A Canadian man who deliberately ran his truck and killed four members of a Muslim family has been found guilty on four charges of first-degree and one count of attempted murder on Thursday, November 16, Reuters reported.
22-year-old Nathaniel Veltman faces life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Veltman was convicted of hitting five members of the Afzaal family, who were Pakistani-Canadian Muslims, with his truck during an evening walk in London, Ontario on June 6, 2021.
46-year-old Salman Afzaal, his 44-year-old wife Madiha Salman, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna and her 74-year-old grandmother, Talat Afzaal, were killed in the attack. The couple’s nine-year-old son was severely injured but fortunately survived.
Prosecutors said in closing arguments on Tuesday, in Windsor, Ontario, that Veltman, driven by hate and white nationalist ideologies, allegedly hit the Afzaal family with his truck
Prosecutor Sarah Shaikh stated that the Veltman left his home with the intention of identifying and killing Muslims, BBC reported.
The accused had purchased his truck two weeks prior to the attack and had been planning the rampage for three months.
Defense lawyer Christopher Hicks told the court that Veltman suffered mental disorders and ‘depression and anxiety’ from childhood traumas, AFP reported.
Veltman consumed three grams of hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms before climbing into his truck, he said.
Hicks claims that the drug caused Veltaman to experience a ‘dream or surreal state’, leaving his brain in ‘turmoil’ and feeling detached and disconnected.
