During this busy B.C. Day long weekend, the grounds of the B.C. legislature will be bustling with tourists and locals.
It was a similar scene three years ago on Canada Day, when a couple from Surrey were recorded by RCMP cameras, putting what police believed to be lethal pressure-cooker bombs around the legislature building.
Victoria Councillor Charlayne Thornton-Joe was in the crowd that day.
“We’re definitely more vigilant than we’ve been in the past,” she said.
John Nuttall and Amanda Korody were convicted by a jury last year of conspiring to murder persons unknown, and making or possessing an explosive substance.
But on Friday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce found they were entrapped by RCMP.
READ MORE: B.C. judge rules RCMP entrapped pair guilty of terrorism: Convictions overturned
She entered a stay of proceedings and released them.
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“We’re just happy to be free guys,” said Korody after the judge’s decision.
“I feel overwhelmed,” Korody added.
Micheal Vonn, with the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said it was clear from the beginning it had been an RCMP “plot.” And Duke Islamic Studies Centre Director, Omid Safi, agrees.
“They were in charge of radicalizing him. They passed on erroneous information to him, only then to turn around and arrest him,” Safi said.
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Safi was an expert witness during the Nuttall and Korody trial.
The couple have been released on a Peace Bond while the Crown appeals the case.
Global News learned the pair boarded a BC Ferry after leaving the courthouse Friday night.
They decided to spend their first night of freedom in three years, back in Victoria.
READ MORE: ‘A very important signal,’ but impact of B.C. entrapment ruling remains unclear: lawyer
But many in Victoria were not too happy to learn the couple was back in the city where the alleged terrorism sting had been carried out.
“Disgusted that’s what I am. I’m disgusted with it,” said one resident.
“That’s really quite unnerving,” said another.
One resident called the situation “ridiculous.”
But Thorton-Joe said the community has no reason to be concerned.
“I feel that the RCMP and the police will be out there and making sure that public safety is paramount.”
Nuttall and Korody have several bail conditions banning them from possessing weapons or accessing Jihad extremist internet sites.
They are also prohibited from visiting the B.C. legislature.
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