MONTREAL -- Thanks to the initiative of a police officer who made himself well-versed in the world of neo-Nazi tattoos, a Quebec Court yesterday gave a stiffer sentence to a Montreal youth because it was established that his gratuitous stabbing of a black man was motivated by racism.

The case is noteworthy because it is the first time a Quebec tribunal has recognized a police officer as an expert in racist tattoos.

While forces elsewhere in Canada have dedicated hate-crime investigators and experts on white supremacists, police departments in Quebec still have "a crying need" for such know-how, an activist said.

Fo Niemi, executive director of the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations, praised Constable Thierry Peano for taking it upon himself to become recognized by the courts.

"It means that from now on he can be called as an expert and that's a great milestone for law enforcement in Quebec."

The tougher penalty the accused skinhead received yesterday stemmed directly from testimony given at his sentence hearing by Constable Peano, Crown prosecutor Isabelle Briand said in an interview.

The Criminal Code now says that judges can impose a tougher sentence when it has been proved than a crime was motivated by hate.

Daniel Laverdière, 24, and Rémi Chabot, 21, had pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.

Yesterday, Mr. Laverdière received a 34-month jail sentence, to be served on top of the seven months he has spent in detention.

Because time spent in preventive detention counts for double when a judge calculates a sentence for this type of offence, his sentence is equivalent to a four-year jail term.

Constable Peano became conversant with neo-Nazi customs on his own initiative, consulting with organizations such as Mr. Niemi's CRARR, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.

Illustrating the testimony he gave last month with several photos, he told the court that Mr. Laverdière's tattoos showed he was a hard-line extremist, while his accomplice, Mr. Chabot was merely a sympathizer.

Last month, Quebec Court Judge Louise Bourdeau gave Mr. Chabot a one-year conditional sentence to be served at home.

The judge heard that the victim, Evens Marseille, a 26-year-old Haitian-born welder, who spent three days in hospital after the attack, now suffers from psychological problems.

The unprovoked assault took place the night of June 22.

Mr. Laverdière and Mr. Chabot were at a bar at a mini-mall in Montreal's east-end, sitting at a table close to Mr. Marseille.

The two skinheads repeatedly taunted Mr. Marseille by snapping their arms into Nazi salutes at him.

Later outside, Mr. Laverdière approached Mr. Marseille. While Mr. Chabot punched him in the face, Mr. Laverdière stabbed their victim in the belly, inflicting a 12-centimetre slash.

The assailants made a final Nazi salute before sprinting away.