Toronto van attack killer seeks to appeal conviction
Posted July 15, 2022 2:33 pm.
Last Updated July 15, 2022 4:32 pm.
The man responsible for Toronto’s deadly 2018 van attack is seeking to appeal his conviction on 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder.
Alek Minassian was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years after being found guilty last year. Justice Anne Molloy also sentenced him to 20 years for 15 counts of attempted murder, which are to be served concurrently.
He filed a notice of appeal to Ontario’s top court this week.
Minassian argues, among other things, that the trial judge “misapprehended” expert evidence and made unreasonable findings of fact related to declining to find him not criminally responsible.
He requested in the notice of appeal that the appeal either be granted, that his convictions be quashed and that he be found not criminally responsible, or that the convictions be quashed and a new trial be ordered.
If a new trial is ordered and Minassian has a right to a trial by a judge and a jury, he requested that both be present – only Molloy presided over the van attack trial that wrapped up on June 13.
During the trial, Minassian had admitted to planning and carrying out the attack, but argued he should be found not criminally responsible for his actions because of his autism spectrum disorder.
The Crown had argued that Minassian is a mass killer who knew right from wrong, and happens to have autism. But the defence argued that because of autism, Minassian never developed empathy, and that lack of empathy left him incapable of rational choice. Molloy rejected that argument.
“Sentence imposed for these murders is a life sentence which means just that. A sentence for this man’s natural life. It is not a 25-year sentence. It is a life sentence,” Molloy said back on June 13.
“He will be subject to restrictions forever if he ever gets out of jail.”
RELATED: Toronto van attack killer sentenced to life in prison
Eight women and two men died on April 23, 2018, when the man, bent on infamy, angered by women who wouldn’t sleep with him and radicalized in the bowels of the internet, deliberately drove a rented van down a busy sidewalk.
The 10 people killed in the April rampage were Ji Hun Kim, 22; So He Chung, 22; Anne Marie D’Amico, 30; Andrea Bradden, 33; Chul Min “Eddie” Kang, 45; Renuka Amarasingha, 45; Dorothy Sewell, 80; Geraldine Brady, 83; Munir Najjar, 85; and Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Forsyth, 94. Another victim, Amaresh Tesfamariam, died last November from injuries sustained in the attack.
A Toronto courtroom also heard dozens of emotional victim impact statements from those deeply affected by the attack during the trial.
Among them was a drawing, submitted by nine-year-old Diyon, who lost his mother, Renuka Amarasingha, in the tragedy. The sketch depicted the sun shining down on the boy and his mother, which moved the court to tears.
