Man accused of cross-Canada flight from police says he was 'in fear of my life'
CBC
The mystery could soon be solved surrounding a Toronto man allegedly involved in a cross-Canada flight from police that ended with his arrest on board a boat drifting in the Atlantic Ocean.
That is if the facts come out in provincial court in Port Hawkesbury, N.S., next month.
Police and court officials say Mohammad Yazed Saleh, 31, of Toronto was facing outstanding arrest warrants from 2023 for weapons offences in British Columbia and Alberta when he allegedly stole a truck this summer and headed for Nova Scotia.
Not much is known about why he ended up allegedly taking a boat from the Lennox Passage Yacht Club marina in the tiny Cape Breton community of D’Escousse last month, but Saleh did suggest a motivation during an Oct. 9 appearance in Port Hawkesbury provincial court.
At the time, Judge Laurel Halfpenny-MacQuarrie asked Crown attorneys whether the other provinces were looking to execute their outstanding warrants.
Saleh interrupted, saying he did not want to return to Alberta or B.C.
Before being cut off by his legal aid lawyer, Saleh told the judge he “took a half-a-million-dollar loss out there. I had a big business and I left in fear of my life.”
Saleh was advised to not speak any more and it was never made clear exactly why he had fled or how he ended up in D’Escousse, which is not on a major highway.
Crown attorney Jeffrey Columbus later told the CBC that Alberta and B.C. were not immediately looking to execute their warrants.
Saleh faces seven charges in Nova Scotia including possession of a stolen truck, stealing a boat from the marina in D’Escousse, possession of a stolen boat and multiple weapons offences for carrying knives.
RCMP say surveillance video at the marina shows Saleh parking the truck at the marina and taking off in the boat.
A week later, at the end of September, he was picked up near Sable Island in a joint operation by police, fisheries officers, the coast guard and the military.
Saleh, heavy set and bald with a big black beard and moustache, has been in custody ever since.
A bail hearing was scheduled Thursday but did not proceed because the Crown and defence were discussing a possible resolution.
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