[antiwar-van] Man set on fire in planned racist attack, police allege

[Harsha W.]

Man set on fire in planned attack, police allege
Sleeping man burned in 2009 after suggestion he be set alight, police allege
CBC News
Posted: Jan 23, 2012 5:13 PM PT
Last Updated: Jan 23, 2012 5:04 PM PT
Police investigate the scene in October 2009 where a man was assaulted and
burned while lying on a discarded couch. Police investigate the scene in
October 2009 where a man was assaulted and burned while lying on a
discarded couch. (CBC)


Police claim two alleged members of a white supremacist group charged with
a racially motivated assault spontaneously targeted a Filipino man they
saw sleeping on a discarded couch, CBC News has learned.

According to information police used to obtain a search warrant, Alistair
Miller and Robert de Chazal were partying in an upstairs apartment on
Commercial Drive in East Vancouver on Oct. 10, 2009 when they spotted a
man asleep on a sofa outside the building.

One witness claims hearing one of them say, "Let’s go light him on fire,"
the document says.

Another witness claims to have seen Miller, “pour the kerosene on the man
and then saw de Chazal light him on fire," according to the document.

That's when a black man driving by stopped and intervened.

According to the document, a witness said the two accused then attacked
the Good Samaritan and shouted a racial slur at him.

Police contend the two accused eventually fled the scene, leaving the
victim with burns to his chest, head and arm. He was treated in hospital
and released.

Charges were laid against Miller, 20, and de Chazal, 25, in December.

A lawyer for the two men appeared in court Monday, when a judge scheduled
another appearance for Feb. 13.

De Chazal is also facing charges related to an assault on a black man. He
is alleged to have carried out that attack with Shawn MacDonald, 39, who
was charged earlier for separate assaults on a black man, a Hispanic man
and an aboriginal woman.

None of the charges have been proven in court.

Miller, de Chazal and MacDonald are believed to have ties with an
internationally recognized hate group known in B.C. as Blood and Honour,
police said.


-- 
Harsha Walia

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