Nathaniel Veltman murder trial: A recap of week 7

WARNING: The details in this article and videos may be disturbing to some viewers

The Nathaniel Veltman murder trial continued for a seventh week with the accused taking the stand in his own defence and undergoing cross examination by the Crown.

Here’s what you missed.

 

MONDAY, OCTOBER 16

Veltman took the stand for a third day on Monday during a shortened day in court and told the jury he drove to Toronto the day before the attack on the Afzaal family.

“I did know there was a large Muslim population there,” he explained, and added that he was also wore his body armour vest at the time.

“At one point I came across a group of Muslims…I had an urge to step on the gas,” he said.

Veltman then testified that he didn’t go through with it and was “fighting and panicking,” and then “drove away from them as fast as I could.”

Before the trip, the jury heard Veltman had consumed a quantity of magic mushrooms and said he was in a dream-like state.

“I was grabbing my bed and thought something really bad was about to happen,” he testified. “I thought I had to kill myself…I had the urge to harm somebody.

The next day, June 6, 2021, Veltman said he left his apartment to buy food but instead put on his tactical gear and began driving around random streets. Before court adjourned for the day, the jury heard Veltman then ended up on Hyde Park Road.

“Then all of a sudden I came across the victims,” he said.

Veltman also testified about his mental state in the weeks and months before the attack, and said that from time to time, he’d “have imaginary conversations with someone who wasn’t there…I didn’t even realize how abnormal it was.”

At 10 years of age, Veltman said he was scarred by a video about abortion that his religious mother showed him, and said “I was taught abortion is the same as murder.”

 

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 17

On the fourth day of his testimony, Veltman told the court when he saw the Afzaal family walking down Hyde Park Road on June 6, 2021 he felt “the same sick urge to drive at them.”

He told the jury he fought the urge twice before: once in Toronto, and again a few hours before striking the Afzaal family in London, but this time, the urge was “too strong.”

Veltman described his state of mind at the time as a “dream-like state,” and told the jury he felt “mentally and emotionally detached” from himself. He said he drove passed the family until the centre median ended on Hyde Park Road, and then turned left.

“What was your intention?” defence lawyer Christopher Hicks asked.

“To crash into them,” Veltman replied.

“Did you intend to kill them?” Hicks asked.

“I just felt this urge to crash into them,” Veltman testified.

The only description of the moment of impact Veltman offered was it sounded like “a loud bang” and immediately he says “this massive shock and horror” took over that he “actually did this.”

He then told the jury he fled the scene immediately as he, “didn’t want to see what I had done.”

Veltman admitted to driving “erratically” through the streets of London when he saw another Muslim family walking on the sidewalk, and testified, “I said, ‘Okay, I need to make this stop. I need to turn myself in. This has to stop before anyone else gets hurt.”

He testified he saw a taxi cab driver parked in a shopping centre lot so he approached, and “yelled at him” to call police.

Veltman told the jury he started to realize “this is actually serious” when the arresting officer Const. Sarah Cochrane told him someone had died.

“This isn’t on the internet anymore,” Veltman recalled thinking. “This is real life.”

In previous testimony, Veltman has said his motivation stemmed from an addiction to consuming hateful content online – most of it being alleged crimes by Muslims on white people that he believed the mainstream media was not reported on.

On Tuesday, Veltman said he believed he was “called by God” to seek revenge for these alleged crimes against white men.

On June 6, 2021, when he saw the Afzaal family, Veltman said he wanted those “obsessive thoughts” to end.

It was when he was under arrest Veltman said the “dream-like” state started to wear off and the reality of his situation started to set in, and he later described all the online content he had been consuming as “nonsense.”

“Every hour that passed, I started to become more and more in touch with reality,” Veltman testified. “I went through a painful transformation to accept what I had done.”

Veltman was later asked one final question by his defence lawyer who asked, “Mr. Veltman, are you remorseful about what happened on June 6, 2021?”

“Yes,” Veltman replied. “I know it was horrible.”

Assistant Crown Attorney Jennifer Moser started her cross-examination of Veltman late Tuesday, and asked Veltman to confirm his actions “orphaned a young boy” by killing his parents, sister and grandmother.

He answered “Yes” very quietly.

“Mr. Veltman, you agree you held racist ideas leading up to when you killed four members of a Muslim family and left a nine year old boy seriously injured and orphaned?” she asked.

“Yes,” Veltman replied.

She questioned him at length about his manifesto ‘A White Awakening’ and the words and phrases he used. He said it was a combination of his own hateful thoughts he “spewed” into the document but also based on content he read or watched online.

"I believed the conspiracy theory that the fact Western countries don't have a replacement birth rate at the same time as mass immigration was a form of replacement for white people," Veltman testified.

He told the jury he worked on his manifesto between May and June 1, 2021.

“At some point you came to a conclusion you wanted to kill Muslims,” Moser suggested.

Veltman replied, “I wasn’t sure what exactly I was going to do.”

During his upbringing, Veltman told the jury he struggled with autism.

But Moser noted Tuesday, Veltman was only just diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder this past year, after being evaluated by Dr. Julian Gojer, a forensic psychologist the defence intends to call as a witness.

Moser accused Veltman of rewriting his past with the new diagnosis in mind.

Veltman didn’t have an explanation for why his airsoft pistol was in the centre console of his truck and not his “weapons bag” if it was only meant to be a hobby; the jury also head Veltman did not go to an airsoft range after purchasing his truck.

Surveillance video depicts the arrest of Nathaniel Veltman at a northwest London, Ont. shopping mall parking lot on June 6, 2021. (Source: Superior Court of Justice)

 

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18

Moser continued her cross-examination of Veltman on Wednesday.

In his statements to police less than 24 hours after the attack, Veltman not only confessed his actions but told police they were motivated by his far-right extremist beliefs avenging alleged minority on white crimes he believed were going unreported in mainstream media.

“You said exactly what you were thinking because that is exactly what the truth is,” Moser said to Veltman.

In his police statements, Veltman also talked about being inspired by other terrorist acts and hoped he would inspire others with his actions in London.

At his trial, more than two years and four months later, Veltman told the jury, “None of my justifications make any sense,” and described his police interviews as “nonsense,” “excuses,” and “loose talk.”

He told the jury in the moments after his arrest the reality of his situation started to take hold and so he paced in his cell trying to “brainstorm” justifications for his actions.

Veltman told the jury he was trying to “shift the blame” anywhere he could including against Muslims, Western countries and the mainstream media.

“Or, it’s the truth Mr. Veltman?” Moser asked, which he denied.

He told the jury he had become an expert at hiding his true emotions and thoughts from people.

Throughout her cross examination, Moser also went through Veltman’s testimony in detail, and highlighted inconsistencies or making suggestions to him about his real motivations.

Veltman later admitted he didn’t know the Afzaal family and only noticed them because of the “garb” they were wearing, and upon seeing the family, he said the urge to “hit the gas” was much stronger than the previous two times.

Veltman then told the jury he decided at the last “split second” to try to avoid hitting the family.

“That’s completely false sir,” Moser replied, who noted that an experienced driver knows to “hit the brakes” before hitting something.

She reminded the jury of previous evidence which indicated in the four seconds before the family was struck, the gas pedal was pressed 100 per cent and the brake was never applied.

Moser accused Veltman of veering slightly to the left before impact “to make sure you hit every single member of the family,” but Veltman denied it.

“You were a real and present danger to Muslims in London,” Moser said to Veltman. “You had found your target. All your pent up rage had found its mark.”

“I’m not sure how I would describe it,” he replied.

While under arrest by Const. Sarah Cochrane, the jury learned Veltman turned to the cab driver who called police and said “make a movie.”

Moser accused Veltman of saying that because he wanted a video of his arrest “out there to be shared with the rest of the world” as another part of his “message of intimidation,” but Veltman denied he wanted to send a message nor did he wish to inspire others.

Moser later questioned why Veltman would have agreed to a loan which increased the cost of the truck by $10,000 to over $30,000.

“I’m going to suggest to you sir that you had no intentions of paying back that loan,” Moser said to Veltman. “You knew you were going to use this truck in a terrorist attack.”

Veltman denied it, and said he believed he would be able to pay the loan back quickly because college was online and he intended to pick up extra shifts at work.

Moser also questioned the state of Veltman’s apartment, and accused him of intentionally pulling all the drawers out and leaving important pieces of evidence readily visible to make it easier for police.

“I didn’t stage the apartment,” Veltman told the jury.

Moser noted however that USBs were all left out in the open, with no password protection and all other data but his manifesto was deleted.

She also discussed a piece of paper, in Veltman’s hand-writing which had equations on it, comparing vehicle speeds to projected death, injury or non-injury. It was left on the kitchen table.

The jury learned Veltman read his manifesto one last time before leaving his apartment in downtown London.

"You had firmed up mind. You decided to go out and find Muslims to kill on June 6, 2021," Moser said to Veltman.

"It wasn't a firm plan in no way but I knew it was possible," he told the jury.

The apartment of Nathaniel Veltman is seen in this supplied court exhibit from June 2021. (Source: Superior Court of Justice)

 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19

On Thursday, Veltman's cross examination continued and was asked about his understanding of terrorism.

“I’m going to suggest to you sir, your end goal in all of this was to overthrow Western governments,” Moser said to Veltman.

“Crashing into Muslims does not overthrow governments,” he replied.

Veltman now denies that he started planning his attack as early as March 2021, although that is what he told police less than 24 hours after the attack.

The jury also learned Veltman ordered a bulletproof vest and military-style helmet online a few months before the attack and he took possession of a pickup truck in mid-May.

“You knew you committed a terrorist attack on June 6, 2021, in your mind, sir,” Moser said.

Veltman responded, “I knew how extreme the event was when he [Det. Micah Bourdeau] told me four people were killed.”

The jury was asked to leave the courtroom Thursday after Moser started to go into a mental assessment of Veltman after he was charged. The legal arguments that ensued were subject to a publication ban because they were heard in the absence of the jury.

Moser then read some of Veltman’s alleged statements to the doctor which included, “I wanted to hurt or kill an adult Muslim, not a child.”

Veltman denied it was a direct quote but rather believed the doctor was summarizing Veltman’s thoughts.

 

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20

The trial of Nathaniel Veltman did not proceed on Friday due to illness.

Justice Renee Pomerance released the jury and said, "We cannot proceed today. Our hope is we will be able to proceed Monday morning."

Two jurors were reported ill.

— With files from CTV News London’s Nick Paparella and CTV News Windsor’s Michelle Maluske