London, Ont. attacker Nathaniel Veltman guilty of all charges; judge to decide if killer is a terrorist

By Michelle Maluske

Click here for updates on this story

    WINDSOR, ONTARIO (CTV Network) — A jury has returned five guilty verdicts to Nathaniel Veltman for the June 2021 vehicle attack on a Muslim family in London, Ont. Veltman, 22, was convicted in a Windsor, Ont. courtroom on Thursday of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. Veltman had pleaded not guilty to all charges. Forty-six-year-old Salman Afzaal; his 44-year-old wife, Madiha Salman; their 15-year-old daughter, Yumnah; and her 74-year-old grandmother, Talat Afzaal, were killed in the attack, while the couple’s nine-year-old son was seriously hurt but survived. Now, Justice Renee Pomerance must determine whether Veltman’s actions were terrorism. At the time of her charge to the jury, Pomerance told the jurors there were two paths to a first-degree murder conviction: That Veltman’s actions were planned and deliberate Or they were an act of terrorism With shaking hands, the jury foreperson – a woman – delivered five guilty verdicts to Veltman early Thursday afternoon. Veltman didn’t make eye contact with the jury while the verdicts were read and did not show any outward signs of emotion. “We don’t know how the jury might have made the decision,” said Christopher Hicks, one of Veltman’s lawyers, outside court moments after the verdict. “They might have felt both were applicable, or just one was enough and they didn’t consider the other. We don’t know and we can’t ask them.” Hicks said a judge on sentencing can have their own opinions about the facts in the case and he expects Pomerance and the Crown attorneys to express their views during the sentencing hearing sometime in 2024. “What he has now is 25 years without parole eligibility, so any sentence he gets on the attempt murder will run concurrent too,” said Hicks. A designation of terrorism might impact Veltman’s parole eligibility when he applies for it in approximately 25 years. This is a developing story. — With files from The Canadian Press

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Phil Hahn
phil.hahn@bellmedia.ca
4165086396