Ontario MP Marwan Tabbara makes court appearance over assault, break and enter charges

Marwan Tabbara, an Ontario MP facing assault and break and enter charges, made a short appearance in court on Thursday, where his case was adjourned to next month.

Tabbara, 36, was charged with two counts of assault, one count of break and enter and commit an indictable offence, and one count of criminal harassment on April 10.

According to a police document obtained by the National Post, Tabbara is accused of watching a home for a period starting Jan. 1, 2020, and ending April 9, in a manner that made the female occupant fear for her safety. That alleged incident led to the criminal harassment charge, and he is accused of breaking into the same home on April 9, where he allegedly assaulted a woman and a man.

The charges were not revealed at the time by Tabbara or Guelph Police Service, and did not become public until June 6 after the National Post and two other media organizations reported on them. None of the allegations against Tabbara have been proven in court.

When the matter became public, the MP for Kitchener South-Hespeler, who chaired Parliament’s subcommittee on International Human Rights, then announced he was “stepping back from the Liberal caucus” but not resigning as an MP.

During today’s appearance at the Ontario Court of Justice in Guelph by teleconference, Tabbara was represented by Alexa Ferguson, an associate at Henein Hutchison LLP, the firm that represented former CBC broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi in 2014 and retired Royal Canadian Navy officer Mark Norman in 2019. During the call Ferguson said Scott Hutchison, one of the firm’s partners, was Tabbara’s primary counsel.

Since the charges became public, he has continued to regularly post on his political Facebook page on matters not related to his criminal charges.

With files from Adrian Humphreys