The next ten weeks will be emotional for many, especially for members of the Muslim community in London.
The trial for the man accused of intentionally running down a London Muslim family, killing four and injuring one, is scheduled to begin in Windsor on Tuesday.
Nathaniel Veltman, 22, faces four counts of first-degree murder and one of attempted murder in the June 6, 2021 attack on the Afzaal family.
Salman Afzaal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna Afzaal and 9-year-old son, and Salman Afzaal’s 74-year-old mother Talat Afzaal were out for an evening walk when a pickup truck mounted the curb at Hyde Park and South Carriage roads in London and hit them before speeding off. The 9-year-old boy, whom relatives have requested no longer be named, was the lone survivor.
Police arrested Veltman that evening, roughly seven kilometres away in a parking lot at Cherryhill Mall on Oxford Street West. He has been held at the Elgin Middlesex Detention Centre since he was taken into custody. Prosecutors allege the deadly hit-and-run constitutes an act of terrorism, suggesting the Afzaal family was targeted because of their Muslim faith.
Toronto defence lawyer Christopher Hicks will represent Veltman at trial. Hicks previously represented one of the six men convicted of first degree murder in 2009 in the notorious Bandidos murders.
For reasons that cannot be disclosed due to a publication ban, Superior Court Justice Renee Pomerance ruled in favour of a change of venue in the case in January. The decision moved the trial from London to Windsor.
The murders prompted an outpouring of grief across Canada and was the impetus for the anti-racism Our London Family Act - Working Together to Combat Islamaphobia and Hatred.
Jury selection in the trial will start on Tuesday. The proceeds are expected to last ten weeks and will be presided over by Pomerance.