Canada: Man Convicted in Fatal Attack on Muslim Family Appeals Verdict

IQNA – A man from London, Ont., convicted in the fatal truck attack that killed four members of a Muslim family and injured a fifth, is appealing his conviction on three legal grounds.

Nathaniel Veltman was found guilty by a Windsor jury in November 2023 of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in connection with the June 6, 2021, attack. In January 2024, Superior Court Justice Renee Pomerance sentenced him, ruling that his actions met the legal threshold for terrorism under Canadian law.

The appeal, filed Friday, coincides with the fourth anniversary of the deaths of 15-year-old Yumnah Afzaal, her parents Madiha Salman, 44, and Salman Afzaal, 46, and grandmother Talat Afzaal, 74. The family was struck by a pickup truck while out for an evening walk. The youngest family member, a boy, survived.

According to court documents obtained by CBC News, Veltman’s legal team is contesting the verdict on three points. First, the defence argues that the judge erred in allowing the jury to consider ideological writings, including Veltman’s manifesto titled A White Awakening, which outlines his political and racist beliefs. Second, the appeal contends that the trial judge wrongly admitted Veltman’s statements to police, which the defence says were taken without proper rights advisement, thus breaching the Charter. Third, the defence maintains that the judge should have declared a mistrial, citing what it calls “inflammatory language” used by the Crown in its closing address.

Over the 12-week trial, jurors heard that Veltman held far-right, Islamophobic views and identified as a white nationalist.

Evidence presented at trial described his strict Christian upbringing and increasing exposure to online hate content during the COVID-19 pandemic. Veltman testified that he consumed magic mushrooms the day before the attack, describing it as an attempt to escape psychological distress.

On the anniversary of the attack, community members once again gathered to honour the Afzaal family, collectively known as "Our London Family," and to reflect on the lasting effects of the tragedy.

Source: Agencies