The ram-truck killer who sowed death on Yonge Street in Toronto in April 2018 will not be able to ask to be released from prison until he has spent at least 25 years behind bars, judge Anne Molloy has ruled. Monday.

Throughout the day, families and loved ones of the eight women and two men killed by Alek Minassian on April 23, 2018 took turns in court, sharing their grief at the aftermath of the attack.

Recall that Minassian, a man who was frustrated with women and had become radicalized on the internet, had run down the sidewalks for more than a kilometer before being arrested. In doing so, he fatally grabbed 10 people, in addition to being convicted of 16 attempted murders.

However, despite the seriousness of the gesture, Judge Molloy limited Minassian's sentence to life in prison, with no possibility of release for 25 years.

When delivering her verdict, the judge recalled that the Supreme Court had recently ruled, in reviewing the case of the Quebec Mosque killer, that it is unconstitutional to exceed the 25-year period provided for by law when a individual commits several murders. The judge had also postponed the date of her judgment, last January, while waiting for the Supreme Court to render its decision.

emotional

The day was particularly disturbing for the relatives of the victims, who came to empty their hearts in court on Monday.

“I am troubled by the pain this man has caused and that he does not seem to have any remorse. My biggest fear is that he could start again, ”testified Janet Jiang, a woman who tried to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers on one of the victims, quoted by Global News.

“The destruction and pain inflicted on my family and others is indescribable. […] The tears that my family continues to shed every day could flood this courtroom,” added Rocco D’Amico, the father of one of the victims, Annie Marie D’Amico.