'Leave us to heal': Muslim community expresses disappointment in Nathaniel Veltman’s decision to appeal murder convictions

An impassioned plea from the chair of the London, Ont. Council of Imams to convicted killer Nathaniel Veltman.

“Just leave us to heal,” said Imam Abd Alfatah Twakkal.

His words come after news that Veltman’s defence lawyer Christopher Hicks has filed an inmate notice of appeal with the court to appeal his murder convictions.

Nawaz Tahir, a London lawyer and chair of HIKMA, a Muslim advocacy group, knew this appeal was a possibility.

“We've said from day one that the justice system has to do its thing and go through the proper process to make sure that there is proper accountability,” said Tahir. “Obviously an appeal is a part of the legal process and we just hope that it will be quick so that the family doesn't have to be re-traumatized.”

Veltman was sentenced in February to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

Justice Renee Pomerance, who presided over the trial in Windsor, Ont., ruled the murders committed by the self-described white nationalist were an act of terrorism.

Veltman was sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of running over and killing four members of the Afzaal family along Hyde Park Road in west London in June of 2021.

The lone survivor at the time was a nine-year-old boy.

“It was a 10-week-plus trial,” said Twakkal. “Evidence was laid out on both the prosecutors and the defensive side and the conclusion that came at the end of the day was that this was an act of terrorism against our community. It was an act of sheer hatred. The judicial process took its course, and this is the end result that came about from it.”

Criminal defence lawyer Trevin David, who is not involved in this case, told CTV News it’s very common for everyone convicted in a criminal trial to argue for an appeal. He doesn’t expect the appeal process to be drawn out for years.

“It may take a year or so as he's just notified them he intends to appeal,” said David. “The next step is to look at what arguments they are going to make. Normally you have concerns about [an] unreasonable trial, but that doesn’t really apply here because he’s already been found guilty. It can take a little bit of time, but with a high profile case like this, they are going to want to make sure it's held quickly, but also heard properly.”

David added that statistics show 30-40 per cent of cases that go to court of appeal are successful, but higher profile cases are much lower.

“All the eyes were on the judge and parties conducting the case, so you know every ruling was made to protect in the event there was going to be an appeal down the road,” he said.

Tahir said the community’s thoughts are with the family because the trial was difficult, “So having to relive something that happened two years ago and having listened to the depths of hatred, and then potentially having to go through that one more time, I think is a bit traumatizing and the thought of that is a little disappointing to the community.”