A 34-year-old Hamilton man has pleaded guilty to arson in an incident last September at a mosque on King Street East near Sanford Avenue.
The Crown is seeking to have the charges upgraded to a hate crime.
The Hamilton Spectator reports that the court was shown a series of text messages, including statements like “a place of their worship is burning tonight.”
“I’ll bring my own jihad to those camel f—ers,” Frederick texted Aug. 28, according to The Spec.
“Wish I could get my hands on some dynamite,” he texted about eight minutes later. “There’s a brand new mosque I really want to destroy.”
Keith Frederick was arrested last September a short time after a fire was set in front of the Ibrahim Jame Mosque in central Hamilton.
The fire was spotted by passersby and was quickly extinguished.
Frederick is due for sentencing on May 11.