Grief, anger, and a profound sense of loss filled a Toronto courtroom Monday as the mass murderer responsible for the city’s deadliest attack was sentenced to life in prison.
Alek Minassian’s sentence, which reduced his parole ineligibility to 25 years due to a recent Supreme Court decision, brought an end to a lengthy legal process that began in April 2018 after he deliberately drove a rented van down a busy sidewalk, killing ten people. Another woman died from the same injuries more than three years later.
“We all wanted him to not be eligible for parole for much, much longer but … I’m happy that we have him behind bars,” Omar Najjar, the son of one of those killed in the attack, said outside court after the sentence was handed down.
Monday was a day for victims and their families as court heard dozens of impact statements from those deeply affected by the attack. It was the first opportunity they had to face the killer in person after his judge-alone trial and verdict occurred over videoconference during the pandemic.
Carmela D’Amico, the mother of Anne Marie D’Amico who was killed in the attack, cried for a full minute before composing herself and unleashing a tirade against her daughter’s killer.
“You took my beautiful baby girl away from me” she said. “She was at the prime of her life, completely healthy and vibrant.”
Haneen Najjar, whose father died in the attack, said she worried something would happen to her parents in Jordan when she immigrated to Canada in 2017 with her brother.
“Little did I know that this fear will materialize here in Toronto, thousands of miles away from their home and in such a horrific and devastating way,” she said.
Munir Najjar, 85, died that day. He was in town with his wife to visit their children and grandchildren. His daughter said her 15-year-old son discovered his grandfather died after recognizing a lone shoe in the street near a covered body.
“Can anyone imagine the impact of such a disaster on a child?” she said through tears.
Fifteen others were injured in the rampage that sent shock waves across the country.
The judge sentenced the killer to 20 years for 15 counts of attempted murder related to those injuries, with that term to be served concurrently.
Justice Anne Molloy, who presided over the case, said while the recent Supreme Court ruling prevents consecutive sentencing for multiple murders, the victim impact statements delivered in the case earlier Monday were still important.
“Every single one of these lives were precious,” Molloy said, choking up, as she delivered her sentence.
“What you said counts, it matters, it matters to me and it will matter to other people who will have to make decisions in the future.”
Source_ globalnews.ca
