The perpetrator of a ramming truck attack that killed 11 people in downtown Toronto in 2018 has appealed the verdict that found him guilty, according to court documents released on Friday.
A little over a year ago, in March 2021, Alek Minassian, then 25, was found guilty by a Canadian judge of 10 counts of first degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder.
As a result, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 25 years last June. It’s Toronto’s worst attack ever.
His lawyer believes that the judge specifically “misconstrued” the testimony and should have declared his client criminally safe because of his mental health, the document said.
During the trial, the attorney had claimed that he felt his client was lacking in empathy, unable to tell right from wrong, and unable to make rational decisions. He assured that Mr. Minassian was unaware of the seriousness of his actions.
Superior Court of Ontario Judge Anne Molloy swept away those arguments, recalling that the defendant had carefully planned his act for several weeks.
Alek Minassian, who has suffered from autism spectrum disorder (ASD) since childhood, admitted the facts.
At the wheel of a white rental van on April 23, 2018, he drove at full speed between the lanes and sidewalks of the Canadian metropolis and had his sights on passers-by for around two kilometers.
Ten people were killed and 16 injured before the death toll rose to 11 in late October 2021 with the death of an injured woman who had spent more than three years in hospital.
He had previously published a misogynistic message on Facebook, in which he assured: “The +Incel+ rebellion has already begun!”.
Short for “involuntarily celibate”, the “Incel” movement brings together men who, particularly in online forums, express their contempt for women blamed for their sexual dissatisfaction.
Alek Minassian had suggested to several experts during the investigation that his main motivation was the quest for notoriety and that invoking the incel movement was primarily a means of getting conversations about him.