He lunged at him, pushed him to the ground, and drove his knees into his face. The victim’s children screamed as their father was beaten and his kippah was hurled into a splash pad. What began as a terrifying assault in a Montreal park has ended with a courtroom decision that left the Jewish community furious.
The assault took place on August 8 at Dickie Moore Park in Parc Extension. A 32 year old Jewish father of three was spending the afternoon with his children when twenty three year old Sergio Yanes Preciado attacked without warning. Witnesses say the victim was sprayed with water, forced down, punched repeatedly, and kneed in the face. A bystander filmed a twenty nine second clip that spread across social media showing the attacker rifling through a grocery bag and tossing the man’s kippah into the water.
The victim was left with a broken nose, cuts, and bruises. His children were described as traumatized.
The court heard this week that Preciado had been suffering from psychosis and could not tell that his actions were wrong. After a psychiatric evaluation at the Philippe Pinel Institute, the judge ruled him not criminally responsible. Preciado will remain in a psychiatric hospital under the authority of the Mental Disorders Examination Commission and has been ordered not to contact the victim or his family.
Community leaders say the ruling does little to calm the anger and fear. Mayer Feig, a close friend of the victim, said, “There is a relief that he was arrested. It still could be that this attack was due to hate because even though he might be disturbed, what triggered him to attack a Jew like that identifiably. And the fact that he threw his kippah, which is his Jewish religious head covering, at the end, into the water, for me raises some suspicion about his motive.”
B’nai Brith Canada also condemned the violence. Richard Robertson, the group’s Director of Research and Advocacy, said, “What happened Friday afternoon was shocking and horrific. It must serve as a wake up call for the entire municipality.”
Political leaders were quick to denounce the assault when it happened. Prime Minister Mark Carney called it “a horrific act of violence” and Quebec Premier François Legault also issued a statement of condemnation.
For the victim and his children, the ruling changes nothing. They saw their father attacked in broad daylight, his religious identity stripped and thrown away in front of them. For many in Montreal’s Jewish community, the scars of that afternoon remain and the sense of insecurity has only deepened.
