Man sentenced to year in jail for assault on Jewish congregants

The Ontario Superior Court in Toronto is photographed on May 2, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

A Vaughan man has been sentenced to 12 months in custody as well as two years probation following a hate-motivated attack last year on a group of Jewish residents who were walking home from synagogue, police say.

The incident occurred at around 1:45 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2024 in the area of Bathurst Street and Flamingo Road in Thornhill.

Four adults told police they were walking home from synagogue when they were approached by a man on an electric bicycle.

The man began arguing with the victims, spat at them and made antisemitic comments before riding away, York Regional Police said.

On Monday Justice M. Townsend found 36-year-old Kenneth Jeewan Gobin, of Vaughan, guilty of two counts of assault and one count of breach of probation, police said in a release.

Townsend handed down the sentence Tuesday following victim impact statements, as well as community impact statements.

The Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) was one of the organizations which submitted a community impact statement.

In a release Tuesday, the group welcomed the sentence and said it sends a “strong and necessary message” that “hate-fuelled violence” will not go unpunished.

“When expressions of hate are paired with physical acts of aggression, they pose a grave threat to public safety and social cohesion,” Jaime Kirzner-Roberts, FSWC’s senior director of policy and advocacy, said in a statement.

“History has repeatedly shown that when this kind of hatred is ignored or minimized, it paves the way to more widespread and dangerous violence. These acts are not isolated incidents – they’re part of a deeply troubling historical pattern whose gravity must be taken seriously.”

The Toronto Police Service recently released its latest annual Hate Crimes Report. It found that in 2024, Jews were targeted in 40 per cent of the city’s 443 reported hate crimes in 2024, followed by 18 per cent for crimes targeting the 2SLGBTQI+ community; 17 per cent targeting the Black community; six per cent targeting the Muslim community; and three per cent targeting the East and Southeast Asian community.

In a statement Tuesday, York Regional Police said they take all reported hate crimes seriously and they will not be tolerated.

“York Regional Police takes these matters seriously and is reminding the community we will not tolerate any form of hate crime,” the force said.

“All reports of hate crime or hate/bias incidents will be investigated thoroughly. If you witness or have been the victim of a hate crime or hate/bias incident, we encourage you to report it to police immediately. Hate has no place in York Region.”