Alek Minassian, convicted in deadly 2018 Toronto van attack, drops appeal
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TORONTO – The man who carried out a deadly van attack in Toronto eight years ago is no longer challenging his more than two dozen convictions.
Ontario’s top court says Alek Minassian has abandoned the appeal of his convictions on 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 of attempted murder.
Minassian had filed a notice of appeal in July 2022, about a month after he was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
He was also sentenced to 20 years for 15 counts of attempted murder, to be served concurrently.
Eight women and two men died on April 23, 2018, when Minassian — enraged that women wouldn’t sleep with him and radicalized online — deliberately drove a rented van down a crowded sidewalk in his quest for infamy.
He admitted at trial that he planned and executed the attack, but argued that he should be found not criminally responsible due to his autism spectrum disorder.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, argued Minassian is a mass killer who knew right from wrong and happens to also have autism.
The presiding judge, Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy, rejected the defence’s argument that Minassian never developed empathy as a result of his autism and was unable to make rational decisions.
The 10 people killed in the rampage were Ji Hun Kim, 22; So He Chung, 22; Anne Marie D’Amico, 30; Andrea Bradden, 33; Chul Min “Eddie” Kang, 45; Renuka Amarasingha, 45; Dorothy Sewell, 80; Geraldine Brady, 83; Munir Najjar, 85; and Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Forsyth, 94.
Another victim, Amaresh Tesfamariam, died in 2021 from injuries sustained in the attack.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2026.