Questions abound for friends of B.C. couple accused in Canada Day attack

VANCOUVER – Questions abound among those who knew a B.C. man and woman who are accused of a home-grown terror plot that would have turned Canada Day into chaos in Victoria.

RCMP say John Nuttall and Amanda Korody planned to detonate home-made bombs at the provincial legislature on July 1 — a plan police say was inspired by the al-Qaida terrorist group.

Now those who knew the pair want to know how they went so quickly from recovering drug addicts looking to start their lives over to so-called “self-radicalized” domestic terrorists.

Stefano Pasta, a teenage friend of Nuttall’s, says he can’t believe the guitar-playing outsider could be the mastermind behind the plot.

Pasta says Nuttall was a fiercely loyal friend and a social outcast, but a simple guy.

Thirty-eight-year-old Nuttall and 29-year-old Korody were arrested Monday and will return to court in Surrey, B.C., on July 9, to face terror-related charges.