Follow the live blog below for up-to-the-minute coverage from the murder trial of Nathaniel Veltman, charged with killing four members of the Afzaal family in London
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WINDSOR – Nathaniel Veltman, charged with killing four members of a London Muslim family, is being tested in his own defense on Thursday morning.
At the end of his opening statement, defense lawyer Christopher HIcks announced that Veltman will be his first witness.
Veltman, 22, has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder in the deaths of a Pakistani-Muslim family while they were out for a springtime walk on June 6, 2021.
Killed were Talat Afzaal, 72, Salman Afzaal, 46, Madiha Salman, 44, and Yumnah Afzaal, 15. A boy, who was nine years old at the time, was severely injured but survived.
Veltman was arrested minutes later at the Cherryhill Village Mall parking lot. He told the police in two interviews that he was a white nationalist and that he targeted the family with his pickup truck “because they were Muslim.”
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The prosecution is seeking to prove that the killings were both planned and deliberate and were acts of white nationalist terrorism. The Crown closed its case a week ago and Thursday was the first day back since for the jury.
Hicks said in his opening remarks that he also intends on calling Dr. Julian Gojer, a forensic psychiatrist who assessed Veltman. He will talk about mental health disorders, including obsessive compulsive disorder and depression. He will also be commenting on the effects of hallucinatory drugs.
The jury heard that Veltman had ingested magic mushrooms early in the morning of June 5, 2021, almost 36 hours before he killed the Afzaal family.
Hicks told the jury that Veltman had to have the intention to kill to be convicted of his charges and there had to be a plan in place. He suggested there is “reasonable doubt” and that will be the focus of the defense.
To read our coverage of the trial so far, click here.
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