VANCOUVER — A B.C. Supreme Court jury has had a firsthand look inside the pressure cookers that were allegedly turned into bombs and left to detonate outside the provincial legislature.
A sheriff carrying the devices walked slowly along the jury bench on Tuesday while 14 grim-faced jury members peered inside the stainless steel containers, which were still lined with dozens of nails.
John Nuttall and Amanda Korody are on trial for allegedly plotting to set off three homemade explosives on the legislature grounds in Victoria on Canada Day 2013.
Their arrest was the result of a months-long RCMP sting operation that involved more than 240 officers, a handful of whom played undercover roles befriending the accused terrorists.
On Monday, the trial was shown videos taken by police and CCTV cameras of the pair stashing bags allegedly containing the pressure-cooker bombs in flower planters on either side of the legislature building.
The videos show Nuttall and Korody, both hooded and wearing dark clothing and black gloves, walk separately onto the legislature grounds to hide two packages under flower bushes decorating the building's east and west breezeways.
Police allowed trace amounts of C4 plastic explosive to be used in the bombs but ensured they were inert, the Crown has said.
A photograph booklet provided to the jury provides a deconstructed look at the devices.
Pictures show the base of the nail-lined interior rimmed with white, rectangular blocks of putty, into which a single metal cylinder spouting two insulated wires had been inserted.
A mixture of washers and nuts cover the containers' contents, with close-up photos revealing the metal shrapnel was held in place with a semi-transparent glue.
The wires run to a clock stuffed inside each of the metal receptacles.
All but the nails had been removed from the pressure cookers when they were shown to the jury on Tuesday.
The Crown spent most of the afternoon admitting additional evidence, which, besides the pressure cookers, included items such as shopping lists, receipts, a legislative tour guide brochure and a handwritten note with the words Allahu Akbar — Arabic for God is great.
The pair have pleaded not guilty to four terrorism-related charges.
