OTTAWA: A Canadian judge on Thursday handed over a life imprisonment to a white supremacist for committing terrorism by running down a Muslim family during an evening stroll.
The verdict is the first in Canada that links white supremacy and terrorism in a murder case.
Nathaniel Veltman, 23, was convicted in November of four counts of first-degree murder, and one count of attempted murder in the killing of three members of the Afzaal family.
He accepted attacking the family with his pickup truck in June 2021 in London, Ontario.
The prosecution at trial argued that he sought to terrorize Muslims, while the defense said he was suffering from a mental issue.
His lawyers also stated that he was in a state of extreme confusion after consuming hallucinogenic psilocybin mushrooms.
Judge Renee Pomerance of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in the verdict said Veltman had planned a murderous rampage for months and took actions to ensure that he would kill as many Muslims.
The judge observed the murdered e wanted to threaten the Muslim community and he wanted to follow in the footsteps of other mass killers.
“I find that the offender’s actions constitute terrorist activity,” she concluded.
The killing was the deadliest anti-Muslim attacks in Canada since a shooting at a mosque in Quebec City in 2017 left six dead. However, the perpetrator of the shooting was not accused of terrorism.
