The sentence of the guy who killed 11 people by driving a van down a Toronto sidewalk has been postponed for several months.
The Superior Court of Justice in Ontario says Alek Minassian’s scheduled appearance on Tuesday will be postponed while the court awaits a significant Supreme Court of Canada judgment in another case.
Minassian was found guilty of ten counts of first-degree murder and sixteen counts of attempted murder by Justice Anne Molloy last year for his acts on April 23, 2018.
The court has stated that it will wait until the Supreme Court has heard an appeal in the Alexander Bissonnette case about sentencing rules on multiple murders that allow sentences to be consecutive.
The Quebec Court of Appeal overturned the 40-year period of parole ineligibility for Bissonnette, who pleaded guilty to six counts of first-degree murder after killing six people at a Quebec City mosque in 2017.
The Crown appealed to the Supreme Court after the Appeal Court found the consecutive sentencing provision to be unconstitutional.
The court says Minassian will next appear in court on April 5.
The prosecution in the Minassian case previously told court the victims and their families also want to be able to read their victim impact statements in person, which has not been possible due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Minassian was found guilty of 10 first-degree murders, another victim, Amaresh Tesfamariam, died a few months ago from injuries sustained in the attack years prior.
Tesfamariam was paralyzed from the neck down and never left hospital after being hit by Minassian.
Toronto police, the coroner and Tesfamariam’s family consider her death to be a homicide.
Source_ The Canadian Press
