2 men plead guilty in 'hate-filled' LRT attack

Warning: This story contains details some may find disturbing.

Two men have pleaded guilty to violently attacking and yelling racial slurs at a man riding transit in Ottawa last November.

Phillip Hudson-Berry and Dillon Graham-Laurence, both in their 30s, each entered guilty pleas for aggravated assault in a courtroom on Friday. 

On Nov. 16, 2024, the two men were at the Hurdman LRT station shortly before 7 p.m. when they approached a 28-year-old Black man who'd been in Canada for less than six months and was waiting to board a train. 

Hudson-Berry and Graham-Laurence then assaulted the man, court heard, striking him in the face, headbutting him and kicking him. 

Graham-Laurence also urged a large brown pitbull the two men had on a leash to "bite him, bite him," court heard. The attack continued on the train where the pair repeatedly hurled racial slurs at the victim.

Hudson-Berry also pulled a knife, cutting a 15-to-18-centimetre inch gash in the victim's head. They kept attacking him as others tried to intervene, court heard.

At one point, Graham-Laurence yelled "88" — a reference to "Heil Hitler" as "H" is the eighth letter of the alphabet — and raised his right hand in a Nazi salute.

Hudson-Berry cut the victim again before the two men left the train, yelling "white power."

Crown seeking 'significant' sentence

Ottawa police initially described the assault last November as a "hate-filled" attack.

The pair — both of whom have criminal records — appeared in court Friday morning sporting beards, their long hair tied in buns and tattoos covering their necks and faces. 

The court ordered pre-sentencing reports Friday. Prosecutors also stated they would seek a "significant penitentiary sentence." 

The maximum sentence for aggravated assault is 14 years. The two men will find out how long they'll be in custody for at a sentencing hearing later this year.