(The Canadian Press)

By The Canadian Press

Guilty verdict in Toronto van attack trial

Mar 3, 2021 | 9:32 AM

TORONTO, ON – Alek Minassian has been found guilty of killing 10 people and injuring 16 others by deliberately driving a van down a busy Toronto sidewalk.

Minassian admitted he planned and carried out the April 23rd, 2018 attack — but argued he should be found not criminally responsible for his actions because he is autistic.

The 28-year-old from Richmond Hill — north of the city — pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder.

Justice Anne Molloy, who refused to name Minassian in her decision and referred to him only as John Doe, said notoriety was his motivation to commit the attack.

The key issue at Minassian’s trial, which began last November without a jury, was whether he had the capacity at the time of the attack to make a rational choice.

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Molloy said Minassian was fully capable of making a rational choice at the time and deliberately chose to commit mass murder.

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.

At one point Minassian became fixated on an American mass murderer who hated women and he joined an online community of so-called “incels” – males who are involuntarily celibate.

Minassian told a detective hours after the attack that he sought retribution against society because he was a lonely virgin who believed women wouldn’t have sex with him.

(The Canadian Press)

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