Canadian Nathaniel Veltman, described as a white supremacist, tried to spread fear among the country’s Muslims when he killed four members of a family by running them over with a van in June 2021, prosecutors said Tuesday.
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The now 22-year-old man is accused of deliberately mowing down five members of the Afzaal family in London, about 200 km southwest of Toronto, killing both parents, a 15-year-old daughter and grandmother.
Only the 9-year-old boy, who was seriously injured, survived.
“Nathaniel Veltman had a message for Muslims. This message was strong, this message was brutal and this message was frightening: “Leave this country or you and your loved ones could be next,” said prosecutor Fraser Ball at the conclusion of a historic trial.
This trial, launched 10 weeks ago, could actually set a precedent by establishing that violence carried out in the name of white nationalism constitutes a crime under Canada’s anti-terrorism law, which was introduced in 2001 after al-Qaeda attacks on American soil.
The defendant, who had no previous convictions and no known connection to an extremist organization, pleaded not guilty when the trial began in early September.
Prosecutor Fraser Ball said the jury had “everything necessary to convict in this case”, including the defendant’s confession to police.
He recalled that Nathaniel Veltman had written a “terrorist manifesto” he found on his computer in which he advocated white nationalism and described his hatred of Muslims.
The defendant was “dressed like a soldier,” with a bulletproof vest and helmet. “He was looking for Muslims to kill,” Fraser Ball said in his findings.
Shortly before, the defense attorney had rejected the idea of intent. “When he left his apartment on the evening of June 6, he had no plan,” argued Christopher Hicks.
According to the latter, the jury must also take into account the defendant’s psychological disorders, which were also alleviated by his consumption of hallucinogenic mushrooms.
That killing marked one of the deadliest attacks against Muslims in Canada, along with the Quebec mosque shooting that left six people dead in 2017.
The perpetrator of the shooting, a Canadian racist, has not been charged with an act of terrorism.