A Toronto court has heard devastating stories from witnesses, victims and relatives of people killed in a minibus attack in 2018, in which a self-described “inch” drove his car on a crowded sidewalk.
Alec Minasyan – motivated by hatred of women – was convicted in March of 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder after a judge ruled he was driving a white minibus on a sidewalk with intent to kill.
At a sentencing hearing Monday, a Toronto court heard testimony from those affected. Witnesses spoke about the horror of the attack and their struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder afterwards.
“My world has changed forever,” said Janet Zhang, after describing the mental suffering she is still experiencing after her CPR efforts to save a victim failed.
First defendant Charlene McKay told the court that she still has panic triggers and night terrors that she manages by drinking and not eating well. “I don’t think he should have a normal life,” she told Minasian.
Other victims spoke in detail about the extensive and life-changing injuries they received during the attack, which they continue to fight.
Minasian’s actions took the lives of Renuka Amarasinga, Betty Forsythe, Ji Hong Kim, Dorothy Sewell, Anne Marie D’Amico, So He Chung, Andrea Braden, Chul Min Eddie Kang, Geraldine Brady and Munir Najar.
The 11th person, Amaresh Tesfamariam, died of his injuries in October 2021. Minasian received no further charge of murder.
The crown wants Minassian to receive 10 life sentences – to be served simultaneously – with parole after 25 years.
The recommendation for the sentence comes after a ruling by Canada’s Supreme Court last month, which found that successive periods of non-parole were unconstitutional and should be seen as a cruel and unusual punishment.
The decision came after a lawsuit by Alexander Bisonet, the man convicted of six murders and six attempted murders in a shooting at a mosque in Quebec in 2017.
In his initial sentence, the conditions for Bisonette’s parole were summed up successively, for a total of 150 years – meaning he would die in prison.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision of May 2022, he is now eligible for parole after 25 years.
Based on this decision and Minasian.
Judge Ann Maloy, the judge who oversaw the trial of the Toronto van, delayed Minasian’s sentence pending a ruling by the Supreme Court.
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