National Post (National Edition)
FATHER TESTIFIES IN VAN ATTACK TRIAL THAT HIS SON LIVED `IN HIS OWN WORLD'.
Minassian facing 10 counts of murder
TORONTO • Alek Minassian purposely drove a rented van into dozens of pedestrians on Yonge St. but did not realize this was wrong because of his autism spectrum disorder, court was told Monday.
Outlining the defence position being advanced at the murder trial for the 2018 Toronto van attack that killed 10 and injured 16, Minassian's lawyer, Boris Bytensky, admitted autism is a condition rarely used as a mental condition to argue that an accused is not criminally responsible for a violent criminal act.
“Mr. Minassian did not understand wrongfulness in a way that enabled him to apply that understanding in a rational way,” Bytensky told court.
“Minassian lacked the capacity to rationally decide whether the act was right or wrong and, hence, could not make a rational decision as to whether or not to do it.”
“The sole relevant diagnosis is autism spectrum disorder, or sometimes referred to as autism,” Bytensky said. “He is not a psychopath, he's not narcissistic, doesn't suffer from anti-social disorder and, I'll expect you will hear, he isn't a malingerer or faking his symptoms.”
Bytensky warned Judge Anne Molloy, who is hearing the trial entirely through online video without a jury, that during assessments of Minassian's mental state by various doctors and examiners, the accused told them he understood that what he did was wrong. Bytensky contends, however, this understanding was only at an “intellectual level” and not applied to real situations.
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 pleads not guilty to the charges but claims he is not criminally responsible due to his mental state at the time.
Bytensky called Minassian's father, Vahe, as his first witness for his defence evidence. He told court that Minassian's father said his son was about to start a good job in computer technology with a $70,000 annual salary, and seemed normal prior to the attack on April 23, 2018.
He drove his son to a coffee shop near where Minassian rented the large van for the attack, but was told his son was just helping a friend move furniture, he said.
During the drive, there was no hint of what was to come, he said.
“There was no difference, if anything he was more upbeat. He seemed happy about the fact that school is over … I remember it was a nice sunny day and the conversations were very positive.”
His father did not know of the attack or his son's involvement for hours afterwards.
Police pulled him over and asked to speak with him about an accident involving someone associated with his family, he said. During a break in questioning, he looked up on his phone what was happening and saw the video of his son being confronted by police after the van attack and being arrested. That was the first he realized his son was in deep trouble.
He paused in his testimony as he became emotional.
He said he watched video of his son pulling his hand out of his pocket and pointing it at police, pretending he had a gun.
“I was in a state of shock,” he said. “How is this even possible?
“I've seen no history of violence. He is, if anything, he's always been characterized as a gentle person.”
Minassian's father said his son had problems from a young age because of odd behaviours. He was in a special education program throughout his schooling. In some subjects, such as math, he was ahead of his peers but in others he was far behind.
Social interaction, he said, “was one of the greatest challenges he had.” He did not recognize facial expressions that reveal others' emotional state, such as pain or anger, his father said.
He also displayed no empathy to others; his father said he has never seen his son cry, not even as a child.
From kindergart e n through college, he often remained “in his own world.”
Minassian 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. Minassian said he was inspired and motivated by Elliott Rodger, who killed six people in California in 2014 and left behind a manifesto blaming his problems on rejection from women. Many incels venerate Rodger and his manifesto.
His father, however, said it was bizarre to hear his son discuss such things. He believes his son took stories he told police of his incel radicalization from Rodger's manifesto and pretended they were his own stories.
He said he doesn't believe his son went to a party and asked young women out and was rejected, as he told police after his arrest.
“This cannot be true,” Vahe Minassian said. “Given the level of difficulty he has interacting, especially towards women, he is, he was, extremely shy. He would not be able to carry out conversations with them, especially back in those days.
“To me, it is almost an impossibility for him to be able to go up to women standing there, especially if there is someone else there, and pose that question. We are talking about a person who had difficulty looking women in the face, difficulty responding.
“We would be at restaurants where, if the server was female, was a woman, he wouldn't be able to place his own order. So, for him to say with such ease, that he showed up to this random party, like he just showed up to this party, he went up to women and asked them that question, to me, that is impossible.”
His father said that when he later read Rodger's manifesto he found the same story in it.
His son also exaggerated his involvement with video games to police, he said. Minassian said he was a hardcore gamer. His father said he did like video games but did not play nearly as much as he told police. He said Rodger also described himself as a hardcore gamer in his manifesto.
Minassian's father said his son was not speaking naturally in the police interrogation. It looked “as if he was doing a presentation.”
Unlike most first-degree murder trials, there wasn't a lot the Crown needed to do to present the case against Minassian.
The prosecution did not need to prove the identity of the killer or what he did or why, or that he planned the attack. Minassian admits to all of that. Because he admits he was the driver and that he planned and intended to kill the people he struck with the rental van, the main issue at trial is Minassian's mental condition and its relevance to his behaviour on that day.
Minassian underwent several psychiatric assessments after his arrest and this evidence, expected from four doctors of various specialties, is expected to be the heart of the evidence.
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 with video teleconferencing software, 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 take six weeks.