KARACHI: Suspect Nathaniel Veltman, who appeared before a Windsor court via video link from Southwest Detention Centre in the city after being found guilty of killing a Pakistani-origin Muslim family, will be sentenced on Jan 4 and Jan 5, the court decided after a brief hearing, Dawn.com reported.

During the trial, 22-year-old Veltman testified that he was influenced by the writings of Brenton Tarrant, the gunman who committed the 2019 mass killings of 51 Muslims at two mosques in New Zealand.

He was found guilty of hitting and killing 46-year-old Salman Afzaal; his 44-year-old wife, Madiha Salman; their 15-year-old daughter, Yumna; and her 74-year-old grandmother, Talat Afzaal, while leaving the couple’s nine-year-old son seriously hurt, with his pick-up truck on June 6, 2021.

While the trial took place before a jury in Windsor, Ontario, the sentencing is set to take place at the London Superior Court, at the request of the victims’ family members, before Justice Renee Pomerance, who also oversaw his 11-week trial.

The attack on the Afzaal family was condemned across Canada. Police labelled it a hate crime with the attack spurring calls for measures to combat Islamophobia in Canada. Veltman was found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder by a jury in November 2023 for attacking the Afzaal family with his pick-up truck while they were out for a walk.

Veltman also testified earlier that he ordered a bulletproof vest and a military-style helmet online and wore them on the day he ran down the Afzaals. He told the jury that he felt an “urge” to hit the family after seeing them, adding that he knew they were Muslims from their appearance.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2023