Jury hears 911 call, video of arrest of man accused of killing Muslim family in London, Ont. | CBC News
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Warning: This story contains distressing details.
The man accused of running over a Muslim family in London, Ont., with his truck approached a cab driver minutes after the summer of 2021 incident and told him to “call the cops,” the murder-terror trial for Nathaniel Veltman was told Tuesday.
Azzeddin Jahanghiri, a Yellow London Taxi driver, testified on the second day of the Ontario Superior Court trial in Windsor.
Yumnah Afzaal, 15, her parents, Madiha Salman, 44, and Salman Afzaal, 46, and family matriarch Talat Afzaal, 74, were killed in the attack. A young boy, nine years old at the time, survived.
Veltman, 22, has has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder, as well as terror-related charges.
Jahanghiri said he had just started his shift at around 6 p.m. on June 6, 2021, and was in the Cherryhill Mall parking lot having a coffee and waiting for calls.
He testified that at around 8:44 p.m., the accused’s truck pulled up behind the cab — with his window down and his hand out. — and he was wearing a helmet.
“I saw there was smoke coming from under the hood and it was damaged. He said, ‘Call the cops, call the police.’ I thought he needs help,” Jahanghiri told the court. “Sometimes people need a boost or need directions, so I went toward him.
“I asked him, ‘What are you talking about?’ and he said, ‘Shut up and call the cops. I just hit someone. I just killed someone.'”
Jahanghiri said he dialled 911 and put the call on speaker so the driver of the pickup truck could talk to the dispatcher.
In the phone call played to the jury, Veltman is heard saying, “It was me. It was me that did it. It was me that crashed into those people.”
During the call, he gives his name, spells it, recites his birth date and then says, “I did it on purpose.”
Cabbie ignored accused’s request to ‘make a video’
The 911 call lasted just under a minute and a half, until two police cruisers showed up in the parking lot.
“When the police officers came, he [the accused] came out of his truck and he said to me, ‘Make a video, make a video,’ but I just kind of ignored him and went to my cab. After a lot more police showed up, he looked at me again and said, ‘I told you to make a video.'”
The accused’s demeanour, the cabbie said, was “calm and smiling.”
SUMMARY: WARNING: This video contains graphic content. Part of the evidence submitted to the jury was video taken from Cherryhill Mall security cameras in London, Ont., as the accused spoke to a taxi driver and police arrived to arrest him.
Earlier Tuesday, surveillance video footage was introduced by Viktor Poc, a civilian forensic analyst with London police. Poc also gave details about what’s being seen in the video, while responding to questions from the Crown.
The footage shows the pickup truck turning into the mall parking lot at 8:44 p.m. with its front end damaged. It also shows police cruisers pulling into the lot, Veltman getting out of his truck, going down on his knees and putting his hands on his head.
After officers approach the accused, he lies down and they search him, according to the video.
Jahanghiri said he noticed the accused was wearing a bulletproof vest underneath a jacket, as well as a white shirt with a large black cross on the front and back.
The black truck and cab are taped off limits by police officers, and the accused is taken away in a cruiser at 8:58 p.m.
Crown prosecutors allege the accused was a white nationalist who set out to kill Muslims with his truck.
Opening statements, agreed facts
On Monday, the jury heard opening statements as well as some facts that prosecutors and defence lawyers agree on, including the defendant was driving north on Hyde Park Road that night when he saw the Afzaals and performed a U-turn toward South Carriage Road, then steered the truck over the curb and struck the family.
Data from the truck shows he veered toward the family before impact and his gas pedal was 100 per cent compressed five seconds before impact. His brake pedal never depressed, the defence and Crown agree.
They’ve also agreed that the accused drove erratically along Hyde Park Road, running several lights, before turning east onto Oxford Street.
The trial was moved to Windsor, with the reasons for the change of venue under a publication ban.
Jury selection was last week and proceedings are expected to go for eight weeks.
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