A man has been charged with hate-motivated offences after two people were assaulted in downtown Toronto in separate incidents on the same day last week. The first incident occurred on Aug. 29 at Union Station. According to police, the suspect approached one of the victims, made anti-Sikh comments and racial slurs, then brandished a knife and waved it at the victim while repeating the slurs. The second incident took place about an hour later near Queens Quay West and Lower Spadina Avenue. Investigators allege the suspect approached a victim and a witness during an unprovoked interaction, made anti-Sikh utterances and racial slurs, then stabbed the victim in the leg. The victim suffered non-life-threatening injuries. On Tuesday, police arrested Lakshitha Arakmullage, 32, of Toronto, and charged him with multiple hate-motivated offences, including five counts of offence motivated by hatred (assault with a weapon), one count of offence motivated by hatred (assault causing bodily harm), two counts of carrying a concealed weapon and two counts of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose. The charges have not been tested in court. Toronto police’s Hate Crime Unit is continuing to investigate.
