Disgraced former Liberal MP appears in court for assault, break and enter charges

An Ontario MP who is facing two counts of assault, a count of break and enter and a count of criminal harassment had his case adjourned to next month during a brief court appearance on Thursday, according to the National Post.

Marwan Tabbara received the charges on April 10 and police documents reveal that he has been accused of watching a house from January 1, 2020 to April, 9 2020—making the female resident fear for her safety.

The charges were not made public until they were released by the National Post along with two other news outlets on June 6 as Guelph Police Service and Tabbara did not reveal them. Tabbara’s allegations have not yet been proven in court.

Following the alleged incident, the 36-year-old received a criminal harassment charge and he was then accused of illegally entering the home and allegedly assaulting the occupants—a man and woman—inside, on April 9.

After the charges were made public, the Kitchener South-Hespeler MP said he was “stepping back from the Liberal caucus” though he was not resigning from his position as MP.

Henein Hutchison LLP associate, Alexa Fergison represented Tabbara at Guelph’s Ontario Court of Justice on Thursday. Ferguson said on the call that Scott Hutchison, a partner at the firm, was the primary council for Tabbara.

Henein Hutchison LLP is the same firm that represented Mark Norman, a Royal Canadian Navy officer, in 2019 and Jian Ghomeshi, a former CBC broadcaster, in 2014.

Tabbara has remained active on social media, often posting to his political Facebook page since the charges were made public.