Alek Minassian is an Autistic who killed 10 people and injured 16 in a driving incident on April 23, 2018 when he intentionally drove a rented van down a sidewalk in Yonge Street, Toronto in Canada, and in court tried to use his diagnosis as an excuse for the crime claiming he could not know what he was doing was wrong because he was Autistic.[1] He admitted to police that he was part of the incel movement and claimed to be an involuntary celibate.[2] There is no such thing as an involuntary celibate. It is a choice based on a lack of wilingness to adjust.
Background
Minassian was born on November 3, 1992, and from an early age it was clear he was different. He had meltdowns in class at school and isolated himself from the other children.[3] By the time he was a teenager he had been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and he attended learning strategies classes and connected with his fellow students in those classes, establishing himself as the class clown although he made references to his condition as “ass burgers”. But when the subject turned to girls, Minassian never participated.[3] Outside of that group, the bullying was brutal – calling him Chewbacca because of physical tics and growling noises, and egging him into embarrassing situations with girls. This created a serious disconnect between them and Minassiam, and one student claimed that he didn’t even realise he was being bullied.[3]
His parentage is mixed. Vahe Minassian had migrated from Armenia to Canada and worked for Rogers Communications as a software developer. Sona Minassian was from Iran and had a job at IT company Compugen. With the help of a community services agency called Helpmate, Minassian was trained for a summer job with his mother doing photocopying, filing and shredding.[3]
The route to violence
Minassian was 15 when Vane and Sona bought him a computer. He soon became fixated with the game Halo.[4] It provided stability and no requirement for real life socialisation. The one positive was that it emphasised his natural computer abilities, and at York University he pursued a computer programming diploma and scored a job there in it’s Centre for Development of Open Technology. His knowledge was respected by fellow students.[3] But holding jobs in this area was much harder. So he tried the army, where he only lasted three weeks. He later observed to a fellow student at York University that he left “because he didn’t get to use guns as often as he’d hoped” and it didn’t appear he was kidding either.[3] In hindsight, this was clearly an alarm bell. It appeared that he was interested in bringing his experience on Halo into the real world. And at the end of the semester while trying to find jobs and not being able to, he finally snapped having a fight with a fellow student before leaving the University for good full of abuse.[3]
The Van attack
After setting up a reservation by telephone, Minassian proceeded with the van hire – but needing help getting the van into gear as it was an older vehicle than what he was used to.[3] After being shown how, it took him 20 minutes to drive the van away but in that time he posted the following on Facebook[3];
Private (Recruit) Minassian Infantry 00010, wishing to speak to Sgt 4chan please. C23249161. The Incel Rebellion has already begun! We will overthrow all the Chads and Stacys! All hail the Supreme Gentleman Elliot Rodger!
The military ID was Minassian’s from his three weeks in the army. Elliot Rodger was a hero of the Incel community after his 2014 attack in California. Minassian drove straight to Yonge Street and used the van to try and run down as many people as he could on the sidewalk. He injured 26 people, killing 10 of them at the scene. One of the injured died in 2021 taking the death toll to 11.[5] Minassian was apprehended nearby by a single officer after his attempt to provoke the officer into shooting him failed.[6]
Legal Proceedings
The day after the van attack, Minassian appeared in the Ontario Court of Justice unrepresented and was charged with ten counts of murder and thirteen counts of attempted murder.[7] On May 10, 2018, three more counts of attempted murder were added.[8] The trial was postponed a number of times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but was finally held via Zoom beginning on November 10, 2020.[9] The plea was guilty but with the caveat of not being criminally responsible – that is he was not mentally fit.[10] Two days into the trial, the defence claimed that Minassian’s “Autistic way of thinking was severely distorted in a way similar to psychosis,” in the first indication that he may be using Autism as an excuse for his actions.[11] This was confirmed, angering the Autistic community.[12]
But it didn’t work. On March 3, 2021, Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy delivered the guilty verdict – dismissing the claim of lacking criminal responsibility and in order to avoid giving Minassian any more notability referred to him as “Mr Doe”. In the conclusion, Her Honour made it clear that he knew what he was doing.[13] Autism Canada welcomed the decision, pointing out that “People on the Autism Spectrum are far more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators of it” and “Autism does not predispose people to criminality, nor to the incapacity to make moral distinctions” – the latter quoted directly from Autism Canada Chairperson Dermot Cleary.[14] However the sentencing was delayed until after a decision in the Supreme Court of Canada with regard to consecutive sentences for multiple murders.[15] On May 27, 2022, that decision was handed down prohibiting the practice of consecutive sentencing as unconstitutional.[16] Taking that into account, Minassian was then sentenced on June 13, 2022 to life in prison with a non parole period of 25 years.[17]
But it’s not over. Minassian appealed the decision claiming the judge “misapprehended the expert evidence before her and/or made unreasonable findings of fact” and submitting that either new trial be held or that the conviction be replaced with the upholding of the not criminally responsible submission.[18] This indicates that the defence is pursuing the Autism as an excuse line – a disgusting development. As of February 15, 2024, no date has been set for the appeal to be heard.
References
[1] ABC: ‘Incel’ Alek Minassian, who killed 10 in Toronto van attack, found guilty after autism defence rejected
[2] CTV News: Toronto van attack trial postponed again, Alek Minassian’s lawyer confirms
[3] Toronto Life: The Man Behind the Yonge Street Van Attack
[4] Wikipedia: Halo (franchise)
[5] Wikipedia: Toronto Van Attack Victims
[6] Wikipedia: Toronto Van Attack Incident
[7] Toronto Star: Most victims in van rampage on Yonge St. were women, police say
[8] CBC: Accused in van attack charged with 3 more counts of attempted murder
[9] CP24: Trial for man behind Toronto’s van attack to be conducted over Zoom, judge says
[10] BBC: Toronto van attack: ‘Incel’ killer Minassian pleads not criminally responsible
[11] Toronto Star: Alek Minassian’s autism distorted his thinking ‘in a way similar to psychosis’ ahead of Yonge Street van attack, defence claims
[12] Medium: Minassian’s Use of Autism as a Legal Defense Is an Attack on Autistic People
[13] CanLII: R. v. Minassian, 2021 ONSC 1258
[14] Autism Canada: In response to the recent guilty verdict in the Alek Minassian trial
[15] Global News: Court to wait until 2022 to sentence man who killed 10 people in Toronto van attack
[16] CTV News: Supreme Court rules Quebec City mosque killer to be eligible for parole in 25 years
[17] CP24: ‘These lives were precious’: Toronto van attacker sentenced to life in prison
[18] Toronto Star: Yonge St. van attack killer appeals murder convictions, says judge ‘misapprehended’ expert evidence
Autism Enemies 