'Suffocating guilt.' 'Emotional wreckage.' 'Excruciating pain': Powerful statements heard in London Ont. sentencing hearing

Nathaniel Veltman was convicted exactly seven weeks ago for murdering four members of a Muslim family and for seriously injuring a young boy.

Grandmother Talat, her son Salman, his wife Madiha and their teenage daughter Yumnah all died on June 6, 2021.

Their son, who was nine at the time, survived serious injuries.

"You don't have to be Muslim to feel my family’s pain. You just need to be human," one of the Afzaal family member’s said in their statement.

 

THE LOSS OF LIFE

“To say that I miss them is an understatement,” Salman Afzaal’s brother told the court. “It is an ache that transcends language and defies expression. It is a void that cannot be filled.”

He, like some other members of the Afzaal family, did not wish for their names to be used by the media.

For more than five hours Thursday, family members were called to the stand to read their statement for the court.

There are a total of 68 — a number the judge called “unprecedented.”

One by one members of the Afzaal family sat in the witness stand — in direct line of sight of Veltman — while they explained who the family was in life.

Most of the statements spoke about Talat Afzaal, the matriarch of the family, who loved to paint and cook for her family.

Salman Afzaal was described as a “gentleman” who was dedicated to his family and his faith, and a man who loved to work in the health care field.

His wife Madiha was a PhD student who managed to balance raising a family with her career goals.

And Yumnah, at just 15 years old, was a budding artist and a kind girl.

Tabinda Bukhari, Madiha’s mother, left her family and grandchildren behind when she left Pakistan to move to London after her daughter was killed.

She urged the court to remember her family members not as “victims” but as “living, breathing, human beings.”

"You have taken the most beautiful people from life,” Talat's daughter Ayesha Shaukat said. “The family that was my rock. The family whom I could rely on for everything in my life.”

"My beautiful family is all gone because of one brutal man filled with hatred," Nuzhat Quidwai, Talat's sister told the court virtually from Pakistan.

 

THE LOSS OF SECURITY

Each statement also touched on the loss of safety and security the Afzaal family members felt — not just in the days after the attack — but to this day.

Sidra Jamal, one of Salman’s sisters-in law, told the court she feels like she’s wearing a “bulls eye” when she goes outside and walks down the street wearing a hijab.

"I shouldn't have to thank a driver for not running over me like I'm road kill,” she said.

Many family members told the judge they still think twice before crossing an intersection, especially if a driver indicates they will wait for them to cross.

“Are they just going to hit me if I start to walk?” one family member told the court.

Hina Islam, another sister-in-law, told the court she now feels “naïve” for believing Canada would be a safe country to live in.

“I have lived through a war, I have seen and experienced violence, but I have never felt so vulnerable as I do now after this,” Islam told the court.

 

VELTMAN’S DEMEANOUR

Nathaniel Veltman entered the London courtroom dressed much the same as he did for the 11-week trial in Windsor, Ont.: dressed in a black suit with a button down shirt.

Now that he has been convicted, Veltman sat in the prisoner box in the courtroom and not with his lawyers.

He turned 23 while in prison this past December.

Before the hearing started, his defence lawyer Christopher Hicks gave him a fist bump and asked if he was okay during breaks.

Veltman sat looking straight ahead towards the witness box where most family members chose to read their statements.

 

FRIDAY’S PROCEEDINGS

The court got through more than half of the 68 statements. There are approximately 12 community impact statements to be heard by the court Friday.

The matter will return to London court on Jan. 23 when lawyers will argue whether or not Veltman’s actions were a terrorist act.