Man accused of racist tirade at Halifax Costco store faces more charges from arrest on Eastern Shore
An Eastern Shore man accused of going on a racist tirade at the Costco store in Halifax on July 4 now faces additional charges from his arrest five days later.
Randall Byron Publicover, 37, was apprehended July 9 at his home in East Quoddy, near Sheet Harbour. Police said he brandished a weapon at officers, who used a conductive energy weapon, or stun gun, to subdue him.
Publicover was released from custody the next day after appearing in Halifax bail court on five charges from the Costco incident and three from his arrest.
By the time his case returned to Halifax provincial court Sept. 3, police had laid additional charges in connection with the Costco incident. He now faces two counts each of uttering threats and assault and single counts of publicly inciting hatred, criminal harassment, intimidation and mischief.
On Friday, Publicover was arraigned in Dartmouth provincial court on eight charges from his interaction with police during his arrest. The charges include four counts of uttering threats and two counts each of resisting arrest and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
Defence lawyer Patrick MacEwen appeared in court for Publicover, who was not present. MacEwen said he needs to take further instructions from his client and asked that the charges be adjourned until Nov. 27 for election and plea.
The charges from the Costco incident, meanwhile, are due back in Halifax provincial court Oct. 29.
In video of the incident that went viral on social media, a man is seen yelling at a group of Muslim women wearing hijabs, telling them to leave the country and that they’re all going to be killed. Store security escorted the man out of the store, but only after he struck a man who was recording the incident on his cellphone.
In court documents, police allege Publicover’s statements at the Costco store incited hatred against “people of African or Pakistani or South Asian descent.”
Police further allege that he uttered threats to cause bodily harm or death to people of those descents.
The mischief charge and one of the assault charges involve the man who was recording video of the incident. The other four charges — criminal harassment, intimidation, uttering threats and assault — involve a different man.
Publicover’s $2,000 bail order prohibits him from being within 50 metres of the Costco store on Chain Lake Drive in Bayers Lake or any mosque or Islamic community centre in the Halifax Regional Municipality.
He is banned from contacting one of the alleged assault victims or attending his home, school or workplace. He also cannot possess any firearms and can only use a knife for food preparation or consumption, or in the immediate course of his employment.
Originally reported in SaltWire Annapolis Valley.
