Alek Minassian, was found guilty of his van attack in 2018. Minassian rented a van and drove it down a Toronto sidewalk, which killed ten people. He was convicted of ten counts of murder and 16 counts of attempted murder.
The judge rejected the defense arguments that Minassian did not understand what he was doing when he committed the murders.
Background on the Toronto Van Attack
The attack occurred on April 23, 2018, on a busy street in Toronto. Minassian rented a van and drove it on a busy Toronto street, intentionally striking pedestrians walking on the sidewalk. The ten individuals that lost their lives were Renuka Amarasingha, Betty Forsyth, Ji Hun Kim, Dorothy Sewell, Anne Marie D’Amico, So He Chung, Andrea Bradden, Chul Min “Eddie” Kang, Geraldine Brady, and Munir Najjar.
He also injured 16 other individuals in the attack. A few of these people will have permanent damage. One of the women suffered a traumatic brain injury and a broken spine. Another lady had to have both of her legs amputated.
Many bystanders went to the aid of the people injured in the attack. Some people attempted to stop the van from doing any more harm. Minassian pleaded not guilty to the attack because of his mental state. Although, the judge determined that he planned to carry it out on April 23, 2018. There was a five-week trial at the end of 2020 that focused on Minassian’s mental state at the time of the attack.
However, Wednesday’s court decision revealed that the judge believed that Minassian understood what he was doing when he rented the can.
The Case
The prosecution argued that Minassian carried out the attack because of his hatred of women. He belonged to an ‘incel’ forum on the internet. They stated that he wanted to kill as many innocent women as possible because of his ‘incel’ background.
‘Incel’ is short for involuntary celibates. ‘Incel’ members are part of an online subculture that cannot find a romantic partner even though they desire to have an intimate relationship. These people talk about committing violence against sexually active people.
After Minassian was taken into custody, he told officers that he committed the crime as revenge for “being unable to get laid.”
The judge believed that he was not motivated to commit the attack because of his membership in the ‘incel’ group. Instead, he utilized the ‘incel’ movement to garner praise from the group. She believed that Minassian drove the van down the sidewalk to become famous, but all he did was end up in jail.
The defense attempted to utilize Minassian’s autism as a way to win the case. Violent traits do not correlate with autism, so this was a shot into thin air by the defense attorney. This enraged autism advocacy groups because it had no element of truth.
Minassian was sentenced to life in jail which allowed the victims loved ones and survivors some sense of relief. However, it still will not bring back the ten lives that Minassian took in the attack.
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