London, Ont. attack trial: Accused another step closer to learning his fate

Warning: Readers may find the contents of this story disturbing.

The jury has been excused until Friday at the earliest after evidence concluded in the trial for the Ontario man accused of deliberately running down a Muslim family in his pickup truck, killing four and seriously injuring a child.

The June 6, 2021 attack in London, Ont., left a nine-year-old boy seriously injured and orphaned after his father Salman Afzaal, 46; his mother, 44-year-old wife Madiha Salman; his 15-year-old sister, Yumna, and his 74-year-old grandmother, Talat Afzaal, were fatally struck.

The Crown has argued that Veltman was motivated by white nationalist beliefs and planned his attack for three months before driving his newly purchased Dodge Ram truck directly at the Afzaals. Defence counsel has argued that Veltman was a troubled man who was acting on urges and not thinking clearly due to the interplay between mental illness and the lingering impacts of psilocybin, or magic mushrooms, when he stepped on the gas.

Evidence in the case concluded Monday afternoon after the Crown completed its cross-examination of an expert witness for the defence, psychiatrist Dr. Julian Gojer. Highlights of the cross-examination included Gojer testifying that Veltman would not give him permission to interview his mother or his siblings, nor would he authorize the release of his medical records.

Cross-examination also revealed that during Veltman’s one-month stay at a hospital in Ottawa as part of his assessments, he did not show symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Crown attorney Jennifer Moser asked if it was unusual for Veltman to show no signs of the disorder, which was among those that Gojer had diagnosed him with, in addition to autism spectrum disorder and a personality disorder.

“It can wax and wane,” Gojer suggested, to which Moser noted there was no cause for it to wane without treatment or medication.

Additionally, Moser stressed that a meeting between the two in September of this year, as the trial was just getting underway, was the first time that Veltman raised to Gojer the lingering impacts of psilocybin on him as well as his claim that he hesitated in the final moments before the crash.

Justice Renee Pomerance took the opportunity to remind the jury that what Veltman said to Gojer during their meetings is not admissible for its truth on its own but rather is meant to reflect what Gojer used to form his expert opinion.

The defence opted not to re-examine Gojer and said his testimony concluded its case, which also included testimony from the accused himself. The Crown then confirmed to the justice that it did not wish to call any further evidence either, marking the completion of the evidence in the trial.

Typically in a trial by jury, what follows are closing submissions from both the Crown and defence, before a jury is instructed by the justice and left to deliberate.

Pomerance has requested the jury be on-call for Friday at the earliest to hear the next steps.

The 22-year-old has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. The case marks the first time Canada’s terrorism laws are being put before a jury in a first-degree murder trial.