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Mohamed Ilyess Akodad\u2019s mother takes a break during Mohamed\u2019s trial for firebombing the Beth Tikvah synagogue, in Montreal, on Tuesday, June 30, 2026. Allen McInnis \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\nThe man who admitted he set a fire at a synagogue in Dollard-des-Ormeaux in 2024 said Tuesday that he was high as a kite and was carrying out \u201ca mission\u201d for another person.<\/p>\n
Mohamed Ilyess Akodad, 20, testified before Quebec Court Judge Karine Gigu\u00e8re at the Montreal courthouse during his sentence hearing.<\/p>\n
While replying to questions from his lawyer, Nazar Saaty, Akodad wept at least once while going over his childhood and talked at length before the court.<\/p>\n
Mohamed Ilyess Akodad\u2019s mother takes a break during Mohamed\u2019s trial for firebombing the Beth Tikvah synagogue, in Montreal, on Tuesday, June 30, 2026. Allen McInnis \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n
His mother was in the courtroom and she wept often as he addressed the court while in handcuffs and standing in a prisoner\u2019s dock. She was so upset she had to leave the room at one point.<\/p>\n
When he testified about the fires, set on Dec. 18, 2024, he said that in the hours before he set them he got high outdoors with a friend in the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough. He also said the friend told him he found a \u201cplace to chill\u201d with other people at a short-term rental in downtown Montreal.<\/p>\n
When they arrived there, Akodad said, someone else who was present at the residence brought up the subject of a $15,000 contract.<\/p>\n
He said he was told to talk to someone over FaceTime on a phone who explained \u201cthe mission.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he was given three addresses to set fires at and that he agreed to do it. One of the addresses was Congregation Beth Tikvah, a synagogue in Dollard on Westpark Blvd. Another was a nearby Federation CJA building, which he also attempted to set fire to. The third address was for a vehicle he was told to set fire to.<\/p>\n
He was vague when he referred to the other people involved in the \u201cthe mission,\u201d but he said someone drove him to the synagogue first and he walked to the nearby Federation CJA building to set the second fire.<\/p>\n
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Cantor Henry Topas, centre, and Rabbi Emeritus Dr. Mordecai Zeitz, right, at the fire-bombed entrance to Congreation Beth Tikvah in Dollard-des-Ormeaux on Dec. 18, 2024. Mohamed Ilyess Akodad testified he had no idea this building and another he targeted had a connection to the Jewish community. John Mahoney \/ Montreal Gazette files<\/p>\n
\u201cThey didn\u2019t say what kind of buildings (he was supposed to set fire to,\u201d Akodad said. He added later that he didn\u2019t know the buildings were part of the West Island\u2019s Jewish community, even when he was standing outside of them.<\/p>\n
He also said he was only paid $3,000, despite being promised $15,000, and used that money to buy drugs like codeine and cannabis.<\/p>\n
He also said he was impaired at the time from having consumed cannabis and codeine.<\/p>\n
When he was asked by his lawyer to estimate, on a scale of one to 10, how high he was at the time, Akodad replied with: \u201c7.5.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two Jewish community leaders testified for the Crown at the start of the hearing. Eta Yudin, senior vice-president with the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, and Abraham Henry Topas, a retired Quebec regional director for B\u2019nai Brith Canada, both said crimes directed at Montreal\u2019s Jewish community cause fear.<\/p>\n
Yudin said it was clear, from the exteriors, that the buildings were important parts of the Jewish community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was evident that (Federation CJA) was an active community centre,\u201d she said in court.<\/p>\n
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Eta Yudin leaves the courtroom during a break during the trial of Mohamed Ilyess Akodad on Tuesday. She testified it was clear the buildings targeted in the firebombing were part of the Jewish community. Allen McInnis \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n
Topas also said in court, before Akodad testified, that he also attended the hearing because he wanted to know if someone was involved.<\/p>\n
Outside the courtroom, Topas said Akodad took a photo of the fire at the synagogue. Akodad later said he had orders to take the photo and that he showed it to the man who acted as the driver.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will regret this for the rest of my days,\u201d Akodad said to several members of the Jewish community who attended Tuesday\u2019s hearing. \u201cTo the Jewish population: I am not a monster.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf someone burned down my mosque, I\u2019m sure I would say that person is a monster.\u201d<\/p>\n
When he was cross-examined by a Crown prosecutor Tuesday afternoon, Akodad was very vague in his responses as to who was at \u201cthe chill spot\u201d when the contract was brought up by other people who were there.<\/p>\n
The other people at the short-term rental \u201csaw that I was interested and that I was high. I didn\u2019t know the people at the chill spot.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was high there. I was really high,\u201d he said. But \u201cI\u2019m not trying to blame how I was impaired.\u201d<\/p>\n
He was even more vague when asked about the man he spoke to on FaceTime.<\/p>\n
He described the person as a white male, with dark hair, about 30 years old who spoke French.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said he had a mission and that he needed someone that night,\u201d Akodad said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWas it him who made reference to wanting to start three barbecues,\u201d the prosecutor asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d Akodad said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said barbecues?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the prosecutor asked Akodad who the friend was that invited him to the short-term rental he said: \u201cI would rather not divulge that, please.\u201d<\/p>\n