The man responsible for the deadly 2018 van attack in Toronto wants to appeal his conviction on 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder.
Alec Minassian filed an appeal with the Ontario Superior Court this week.
In it, he claims, among other things, that the trial judge “misunderstood” the expert evidence and made “unwarranted findings of fact” related to the refusal to find him not criminally responsible.
Judge Anne Molloy found Minassian guilty last year of 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder for his actions on April 23, 2018. On that day, he deliberately drove a rented van down a busy sidewalk and killed eight women and two men. Another woman died more than three years later from injuries sustained that day.
MORE: Parents, siblings, friends: Remembering lives lost in Toronto van attack
Minassian was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years last month.
He asked in the notice of appeal that the appeal be either allowed, that his convictions be set aside and that he be found not responsible, or that the convictions be set aside and a new trial ordered.
If a new trial is ordered and Minassian is entitled to a trial by judge and jury, he has asked that both be present — only Molloy presided over the van attack trial, which ended June 13.
During the trial, Minassian admitted that he planned and carried out the attack, but argued that he should not be found not responsible for his actions because of his autism spectrum disorder.
Police are seen near a damaged van in Toronto after the van mounted a sidewalk and crashed into several pedestrians on Monday, April 23, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Aaron Vincent Elkaim
The Crown argued that Minassian was a mass murderer who knew right from wrong and had autism. But the defense argued that because of his autism, Minassian never developed empathy and that his lack of empathy made him incapable of rational choice. Molloy rejected this argument.
A Toronto courtroom also heard dozens of emotional victim impact statements from those deeply affected by the attack during the trial.
Among them was a drawing sent by nine-year-old Dion, who lost his mother Renuka Amarasingha in the tragedy. The skit depicted the sun shining down on the boy and his mother, which moved the court to tears.
Amarasingha, Betty Forsyth, Ji Hun Kim, So He Chung, Geraldine Brady, Chul Min Kang, Anne Marie D’Amico, Munir Najjar, Dorothy Sewell, Andrea Bradden and Amaresh Tesfamariam died as a result of the attack.
With files from Liam Casey
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 15, 2022.
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