Tracking a high profile trial going on today in Ontario in Windsor Ontario for a 22 year old man accused of killing four members of a Muslim family his name is Nathaniel veltman and he is facing terrorism-related charges in connection with the deaths of the afsal family they
Were hit by a pickup truck in London Ontario back in 2021 as they were out for an evening stroll prosecutors say develman deliberately targeted the family as they were out for that walk they allege he was motivated by extreme right-wing and islamophobic Views the youngest son of the office Hall family
Survived the attack develman has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder one count of attempted murder and the trial was moved to Windsor jury selection wrapping up last week and now we’re starting to get to the latest on opening arguments as well criminal defense lawyer Michael
Spratt is standing by Michael waukesu what we’re going to hear today in court or what we can expect anyway yeah so in opening statements the prosecution has and will continue after after the morning break to lay out their Theory to present the evidence that um uh to let the jury know the evidence
That Dale present including statements made by the accused and you know it’s a road map for what the jury is going to hear and of course the prosecution has to deliver on that road map and enter and prove those things that they say can we were talking to our correspondent
Michael who was at the trial earlier on the program and she told us that basically during the arrest this was according to the opening statements uh that he talking about Nathaniel development here the accused that he admitted to London Police at the time what he had done now also pleading not
Guilty so how does that play into all this can you just walk us through because it gets a little confusing yeah so these statements made by the accused to the police shortly after the events it provides important insight into the State of Mind why he did what he did only one person
Knows what was going on in his mind and that’s that’s the accused Mr beltman these are statements that the crown as part of pre-trial motions would have had to thought admissibility rulings on so we can expect that we will hear this in evidence we will hear from Mr beltman
Even if he chooses not to testify through his own words and these statements are important you know for a terrorism charge you need to prove that someone was motivated by political or ideological purposes and that he intended to intimidate members of the public and you know by saying that this
Is something that he is planning to do that he was planning on killing that he knew what he did and he admitted it was terrorism and that he wanted to send a message to the public these are some of the elements the crown is going to need
To prove for that terrorism charge now he has pled not guilty so um it might he might offer evidence in response to that to say why he told the police those things or why he really did what he did yeah so that’s where where I was just getting some clarification as
You’re explaining it you know the idea that you may make statements to the police at the time that it happens but later you can plead not guilty yeah I mean we see this in in you know many cases where the times that individuals they say things on their arrest
Um they might not be accurate it might not be a true reflection of what they were thinking um there might be reasons or explanations for some of that evidence that looks you know from from the outside looking in makes them look very very guilty so we might hear those
Explanations from him we might also hear you know expert evidence from both the crown and potentially the defense about sort of ideological sort of uh thoughts and that can relate to the terrorism charge as well so just because he’s pled not guilty doesn’t mean that it’s a full
Denial there might be some new ones there that is explored over the course of the trial can I ask you if he’s convicted how much time he might get in terms of a sentence well for the uh for the charges of first-degree murder and certainly it was a planned deliberate course of action
Um and the jury is satisfied of that Beyond a reasonable doubt he will be found guilty first degree murder that’s a life sentence with no chance for to even apply for parole uh until 25 years has passed we don’t have um concurrent life sentences that was found to be unconstitutional the Supreme
Court has said we don’t have sort of that capital punishment by the operation of time in jail but certainly if he gets found guilty of these offenses be expected he will be serving a life sentence Michael appreciate you taking the time for us thank you no problem anytime Michael Spratt criminal defense
Criminal defence lawyer Michael Spratt gives insight on what the court will be hearing during the opening statements of the trial of Nathaniel Veltman, the accused in the 2021 London, Ontario truck attack case.
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