He appeared in court on July 25 and pleaded guilty to one count of mischief for spreading red paint on the Holocaust monument. The Crown consented to his release on bail.
Aspenlieder’s lawyer, Michael Spratt, says the other two charges are expected to be withdrawn by the Crown when the sentencing process concludes.
Surveillance recordings captured Aspenlieder arriving at the monument just before 3 a.m. on a bicycle carrying red bags and throwing paint on the monument, according to the agreed statement of facts. He left cans of red paint at the monument, which police collected as evidence.
Aspenlieder was arrested at home on June 27 following an investigation by the Ottawa Police Service’s Hate and Bias Crime Unit. At the time of arrest, Aspenlieder was wearing a shirt that had red paint on it and told police he was wearing “incriminating evidence,” the statement says. The following day, he attended a bail hearing while engaging in a hunger strike, but he was denied bail at the time.
‘Feed Me’
The vandalism took place amid an increase in acts of anti-Semitism taking place since terrorist group Hamas launched raids inside Israel in October 2023, an attack that has been followed by Israeli military action.Spratt said Aspenlieder has “accepted responsibility for his actions,” which he says were driven by “a profound sense of compassion and moral urgency — not by hatred or prejudice.”
“He looks forward to demonstrating that his motivation was rooted in a desire to call attention to human suffering, not to cause harm or spread intolerance,” Spratt said.
The Crown will likely seek a penitentiary sentence, Spratt said, noting that the defence will probably suggest that the time Aspenlieder spent in custody since last month is “punishment enough for his actions.”
