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The sentence hearing for a man who threatened people online and then ignored a court order by further harassing one of his victims has been delayed because a psychiatrist wants to testify in the case.

Quebec Court Judge Jean-Pierre Boyer was expecting to hear a joint sentence recommendation on Thursday in the case of Dennis Markuze, 43. The man from St-Laurent pleaded guilty in 2012 to threatening eight people for expressing atheistic views on blogs that debate scientific reason versus religious belief and then later ignored a court order by further harassing one of the victims.

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The threats were posted on social networks like Twitter. In one posting Markuze wrote: “Die f–cking atheists. I will cut your heads off.”

Last May, he pleaded guilty to criminal harassment, violating a court order and threatening the police investigator who arrested him in the second case.

The lawyers involved were prepared to make a joint sentencing recommendation in November but it was put off because Boyer had handled several other cases that same day and ran out of time to hear the recommendation. The hearing was rescheduled to proceed Thursday but the judge was informed that a psychiatrist at the Jewish General Hospital has asked to testify in the case before Markuze is sentenced.

Boyer agreed to set June 3 as a date to hear the psychiatrist’s testimony.

pcherry@montrealgazette.com