Alek Minassian abandons appeal of Toronto van attack convictions
The Ontario Court of Appeal says Minassian has abandoned his challenge of 26 convictions for the 2018 attack that killed 10 people.
TORONTO · The man convicted of using a van to kill 10 people on a Toronto sidewalk has ended his attempt to overturn the verdicts. Alek Minassian has abandoned his appeal of 26 convictions, Ontario's top court announced. He was found guilty of 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder for the 2018 attack. Minassian had launched the appeal process in July 2022, shortly after receiving a life sentence with no parole eligibility for 25 years. A concurrent 20-year sentence was also imposed for 15 counts of attempted murder.
On April 23, 2018, Minassian drove a rented van down a crowded sidewalk, killing eight women and two men. He told police the attack was a mission for the incel movement, an online subculture of so-called "involuntarily celibate" men who direct their misogynistic rage at women. Motivated by a rage that women would not sleep with him and radicalized online, he carried out the assault in a quest for infamy. At his trial, he admitted planning and executing the attack but argued he should be found not criminally responsible due to his autism spectrum disorder.
The courtroom clash over criminal responsibility
Prosecutors countered that Minassian was a mass killer who knew right from wrong and happened to also have autism. Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy, who presided over the trial, rejected the defence's argument. She found that Minassian's autism, which the defence said prevented him from developing empathy and making rational decisions, did not absolve him of criminal responsibility. Justice Molloy noted that notoriety was a predominant driving force for his crimes and said she would not name him in her decision, referring to him as "John Doe." The 10 people who died in the attack were Ji Hun Kim, 22; So He Chung, 22; Anne Marie D’Amico, 30; Andrea Bradden, 33; Chul Min “Eddie” Kang, 45; Renuka Amarasingha, 45; Dorothy Sewell, 80; Geraldine Brady, 83; Munir Najjar, 85. And Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Forsyth, 94. Another victim, Amaresh Tesfamariam, died in 2021 from injuries sustained during the rampage. With Minassian's appeal now abandoned, the convictions and sentences imposed by Justice Molloy are final.
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Legal finality after four-year appeal process
Minassian's decision to drop the appeal brings legal closure to a case that prompted national debates on misogynistic violence and mental health defences. The appeal had been pending for over four years since his sentencing. The court provided no explanation for his choice to abandon the challenge. His life sentence, with the mandatory 25-year parole ineligibility period, will now be served without further legal challenge from him.
The trial centred on whether Minassian's autism spectrum disorder rendered him incapable of understanding the wrongfulness of his actions. The judge concluded his detailed planning and desire for fame demonstrated rational, criminal intent. The abandonment of the appeal means no appellate court will rule on the merits of that finding. The case highlighted the tension between a psychiatric defence and societal demands for accountability in acts of targeted violence.
The victims, whose ages spanned from 22 to 94, were remembered in a community shaken by the brutality of the attack. The incident spurred discussions on public safety, online radicalization and the incel ideology. With the appeal withdrawn, the focus remains on the sentences handed down and the lives lost. Minassian will now serve his time in the federal correctional system, his legal path having reached its end.
With files from The Canadian Press, Global News and CBC News