The man accused of killing 11 people and injuring dozens more by driving an SUV into a crowded Vancouver Filipino street festival in April is in court on Wednesday for a fitness hearing.
The hearing will see a judge determine whether Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, is mentally fit to stand trial.
The details of evidence presented and what is said in court are subject to a publication ban.
“There is still a lot of grief, anger and confusion as to what happened that day, a lot of people are also looking for justice and are looking for updates on this case,” Filipino BC spokesperson Crystal Laderas said outside the Vancouver Provincial Court.
“I believe the community is looking for answers, and at least to be able to follow these proceedings closely, but we do want to respect the court process.”
In the wake of the April 26 attack at Vancouver’s Filipino Lapu Lapu Day festival, Lo was initially charged with eight counts of second-degree murder.
Prosecutors approved three more counts this week, bringing the total number of charges to 11.
Vancouver police Sgt. Steve Addison said it will be up to Crown prosecutors to decide whether Lo will face additional charges.
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“We trust that with these additional second-degree murder charges, that will bring some degree of accountability and answers to the community, to families that have been grieving, their loved ones that have been seriously injured or killed in one of the horrific mass murder events in Canadian history,” Addison said.
“Certainly there were other people who were injured, other people quite seriously. And we’ll leave that with Crown counsel to do their charge assessment to undertake their process to determine what charges are most appropriate.”
On June 26, Vancouver police said six people who had been injured in the incident remained in hospital.
Laderas said her organization is in court Wednesday to keep tabs on the case, but also to provide support for victims of the attack, many of whom could be retraumatized by the court process.
“A lot of people have put in a lot of personal work on recovery, people have moved from hospital beds to rehabilitation centres, they have gone through counselling, physiotherapy to recover from this. And sometimes when court proceedings come up it brings them right back to April 26.”
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Investigators have previously said that Lo had extensive mental health interactions with police before the April incident.
Vancouver police confirmed he had been in contact with police in a neighbouring municipality the day before the vehicle attack, but the interaction was not criminal in nature and “did not rise to the level where mental health intervention was required.”
The Supreme Court of Canada is expected to release a ruling dealing with fitness to stand trial on Friday, and as a result, Lo’s hearing is being split into two parts.
The court is expected to hear evidence on Wednesday and Thursday and then pause, with lawyers expected to make arguments after the Supreme Court ruling comes down, in order to accommodate any potential changes to the law.
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