Toronto van attack driver’s father accused of tailoring testimony
Influenced by ‘ buzz words,’ Crown suggests
Toronto • The father of the man who killed 10 people by purposely driving a van along a busy Toronto sidewalk was accused of tailoring his court testimony to boost Alek Minassian’s defence of being not criminally responsible for murder.
Vahe Minassian previously testified his son didn’t show normal emotion, had no empathy, never cried, and became hyper- focused or fixated on certain things for no apparent reason.
Tuesday morning, Crown prosecutor Cynthia Valarezo cross- examined the father and suggested his testimony was influenced by these “buzz words” he heard while learning about how a defence of “not criminally responsible” due to mental state works.
“You made an effort to know what it was ( a doctor) was telling you so that when you came to this court you knew the evidence you needed to give to help out your son,” she asked him.
He disagreed: “You’re confused. You have no idea what’s going on,” he said.
During a morning of often strained questioning, Vahe Minassian seemed evasive on how many times he had watched the video of the police interrogation of his son prior to his testimony on Monday, and his recollection of what he told a doctor who was examining his son for an assessment of his mental state.
Valarezo presented a doctor’s notes on a meeting with the father prior to trial that refers to Alek Minassian “breaking down and crying” during his police interrogation.
His father said in court he initially thought his son briefly cried in the video but now believes he was just talking under his breath.
“Your son was displaying an emotional reaction to what he had just done,” Valarezo said.
“The reason why today you’re really, really hesitant to adopt that passage ( about him crying) … is because you know that it does not help your son in the ultimate defence he is advancing before this court, right?” He disagreed.
“Alek’s inability to show emotion is incredibly important at this trial,” Valarezo said.
“I wasn’t necessarily aware of that,” he replied.
He said that after the “shock was gone,” he realized his son didn’t appear to actually be crying the more he re- watched the interview, first on Youtube and later in a doctor’s office and in court.
Alek Minassian, 28, is charged with 10 counts of murder and 16 counts of attempted murder for driving a rented van into pedestrians on a busy sidewalk along Toronto’s Yonge St. on April 23, 2018.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges but claims he is not criminally responsible due to his mental state at the time.
Tuesday afternoon, Vahe Minassian was challenged over several things his son apparently kept hidden from his parents.
He said he was unaware his son had an interest in mass murderers while in high school and fantasized about becoming a mass shooter.
He said he did not know his son’s interest in incel subculture started in high school or that his son told doctors he found it easy to hide his emotions and earlier contemplated suicide.
His doctors reported that Alek Minassian variously told them after the attack that: “to kill is extremely immoral”; that his actions are “seen as morally terrible by everyone in the community”; and “I’ve been told my whole life that killing is wrong.”
Challenging the father’s testimony, where he earlier said it was impossible that his son asked a woman out because he was incapable of talking to strange women, Valarezo told him his son told doctors he had approached women three times while at college, asking for their phone numbers and that one complied and they texted for a few days before she stopped.
The father said he was unaware of that.
And while the father said that on the day of the van attack his son seemed upbeat about starting a new job, Valarezo noted his son told doctors he was filled with anxiety because he feared he would fail at his job.
Minassian’s lawyer, Boris Bytensky, told court Monday that Minassian’s autism spectrum disorder was the only diagnosis at issue in his not criminally responsible defence; court heard Minassian did not hold empathy for others nor could he recognize emotions in others, such as pain or anger.
“Mr. Minassian did not understand wrongfulness in a way that enabled him to apply that understanding in a rational way,” Bytensky told court.
Bytensky, acknowledged autism is a condition rarely used for arguing that an accused is not criminally responsible for a violent criminal act.
The legal defence outraged autism advocates.
Autism Canada, an autism education, advocacy and support group, issued a statement denouncing the claims of autism as a factor in such behaviour as “egregious”
“Autism Canada wishes to respond emphatically that these claims are wholly unsubstantiated, merely speculative, and made carelessly without any published evidence proving autism, on its own, is a risk factor for becoming violent against other people,” the association said.
Minassian’s father said Monday that from a young age his son rarely showed empathy for the suffering of others, even those he loved; his father said he has never seen his son cry, not even as a child
Because Minassian admits he was the driver and that he planned and intended to kill the people he hit, Minassian’s mental condition and its relevance to his behaviour on that day is the key focus of the trial.
Just before his attack, and again to police afterward, he claimed his actions were part of “the Incel Rebellion,” a reference to a fringe, misogynist ideology of “involuntarily celibate” men who have difficulty attracting sexual interest from women.
Killed in the attack were: Renuka Amarasingha, 45; Andrea Bradden, 33; Geraldine Brady, 83; So He Chung, 22; Anne Marie D’amico, 30; Mary Elizabeth ( Betty) Forsyth, 94; Chul Min ( Eddie) Kang, 45; Ji Hun Kim, 22; Munir Najjar, 85; and, Dorothy Sewell, 80.
The trial is being held entirely online via video teleconferencing, due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The judge and lawyers all remain in their homes or offices. Minassian is linked in from the Toronto South detention centre. The trial is scheduled to continue Wednesday afternoon and continue for several more weeks.
Alek’s inability to show emotion is incredibly importa nt at this trial.