BRAMPTON -- A "Toronto 18" recruit in a terror plot labelled the Battle of Toronto -- a plan to bomb the CSIS building, the Toronto Stock Exchange and a military base -- apologized yesterday for betraying his fellow Canadians.

Appealing for leniency at a pre-sentencing hearing, Saad Gaya, 22, said: "What I was a part of was absolutely wrong.

"Not only have I let myself down, but I have also let down everyone whom I have ever been associated," the slender science student who was raised in Oakville and Toronto read in a clear, steady voice.

Apologizing "for my irrational decision," he told Mr. Justice Bruce Durno: "I should have realized I was playing with fire.

"I was young and politically naive."

Insisting he was not raised in a "hate-filled environment" or brainwashed, Gaya said: "This is not why my parents sacrificed and worked so hard for and this is not what my teachers and professors dedicated their time for."

Arrested in June 2006 after helping unload two tonnes of fertilizer bought for use as explosives, Gaya pleaded guilty in September to intending to cause an explosion to benefit a terrorist group.

PULL TROOPS

Prosecutors have quoted al-Qaida-inspired organizer Zakaria Amara telling recruits bombings would influence Canada to pull troops from Afghanistan.

During final submissions, prosecutor Croft Michaelson said Gaya was "perhaps a naive man perhaps upset by events overseas," who showed "a willingness to participate in urban terrorism.

"He was prepared to wage war on the country of his birth," the Crown attorney said.

Quoting from an interrogation transcript, Michaelson said Gaya told a detective Amara promised he would become "a hero, like in the eyes of God," that preparing bombs was "our duty."

Lawyer Paul Slansky said his client would have quit if he thought people would die.

SUICIDE BOMBERS

Amara, 24, who pleaded guilty in October to knowingly participating in a terrorist group, plus intending to cause an explosion to benefit a terrorist group, intended to turn his team into truck-driving suicide bombers.

Two psychiatrists warned that Gaya -- whose parents and about 40 men and women sat silently throughout the proceedings -- might participate in future extremist violence, Michaelson said.

"He was motivated by his religious beliefs and his sympathy over the suffering limbs of the Muslim nation," he said, quoting the psychiatrists.

"That's the definition of an extremist," Michaelson said, asking Durno for a 17-year sentence.

Saudi-born Saad Khalid, 23, of Erin Mills, who was also arrested after unloading the fertilizer, was previously sentenced to 14 years.

Slansky argued Gaya should get a lower term since his involvement was less.

Gaya will be sentenced Jan. 18 -- the same day as Amara.

Others, whose names cannot be published yet, await trial.

IAN.ROBERTSON@SUNMEDIA.CA