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Nathanial Veltman planned his attack for weeks.
That's the claim Assistant Crown Attorney Jennifer Moser put, once again, to the man accused of deliberately killing four members of the Afzaal family in June of 2021 during her continued cross examination at his first degree murder trial on Monday.
Talat Afzaal, 74, her son Salman Afzaal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, and their daughter Yumnah, 15, were all killed in the incident. Their son, who was nine at the time, was the only survivor.
Veltman faces four charges of first degree murder and one charge of attempted murder in the case.
This is the 24th day of his jury trial.
"You knew you would spend the rest of your life in prison for [the attack], you knew you had nothing to lose," Moser put to Veltman, who hesitated in his answers.
"It would have been a fit rage and I would have calmed down later," he said in response.
Moser's line of questioning came from a report from a report on Veltman's state of mind prepared by Dr. Julian Gojer, a forensic psychologist scheduled to testify for the defence later in the trial.
Gojer has examined Veltman in multiple meetings, starting in the summer of 2023.
"You had been planning an attack," Moser said. "Weeks before you actually committed the attack."
"I wouldn't call it planning," Veltman said in response.
"I worked myself into a fit of rage, and calmed down later," he repeated.
Moser also went at Veltman's assertion that he didn't plan the attack by noting he had been doing research into prison sentences months before the Afzaals were killed.
"Mr. Veltman, if we go back to March, April, May and June of 2021, what crime do you think you'd have to commit to potentially spend the rest of your life in jail for?" Moser asked.
"Something bad," he responded after a long pause. "Maybe subconsciously I had an idea it could have been something really bad. I didn't formulate a specific idea of what exactly I was going to do."
"Mr. Veltman, I'm going to put to you that you were thinking about committing an act of murder," Moser said.
Later in the cross-examination, Veltman's state of mind in the moments before the four members of the family were killed was discussed.
Veltman told Gojer he perceived Salman Afzaal as a rapist when he was driving is truck at the family.
He had also said earlier in the trial that he was focused on Salman Afzaal because his beard indicated that he was Muslim.
"I didn't pick anyone in the group to kill, I know that I was looking directly at the male," Veltman said. "I didn't pick a single person in the group and say I'm going to kill that person."
"I thought maybe the reason I was looking directly at him was because of the content I was consuming," Veltman said on the stand, continuing his insistence that he had not planned the attack in June of 2021, rather he was overcome in the moment by online content he had seen villainizing Muslims.
Moser rejected that assertion.
"I don't believe I saw him and thought 'That guy's a rapist,' but that's my theory on why I was looking directly at him," Veltman said. "I know I felt the urge to crash into them."
"Your urge was, in fact, to kill them," Moser said.
"What in the world did you think you were going to do when you were driving your truck into them, pedal to the metal, for four seconds?" she asked him.
Moser also challenged Veltman's claim that he had tried to turn his truck away from hitting the Afzaal family at the last second before impact.
"I'm going to put to you that the first time you ever put those words to anyone was on September 23rd, 2023 when you met with Dr. Gojer," Moser said. "Mr. Veltman, the video of this attack was played (in court) on September 11th, 2023."
Moser said the damage to Veltman's truck shows that the only turn he made was one to make sure he hit all five members of the Afzaal family.
"You were successfully able to maneuver your pick up truck between a hydro pole and a wire line," Moser said. "I'm going to say to you sir that was quite the maneuvering of your pick-up truck to make sure that you didn't get hurt, do you agree or disagree?"
"Completely disagree," responded Veltman.
"At no point did you touch your brake," Moser continued. "Four seconds before you struck them you were at 100 per cent acceleration. I'm going to put to you sir that's because you intended to kill that family."
Veltman rejected that claim.
Moser also showed Veltman overheard photographs of the scene, to outline how far the bodies of members of the Afzaal family had flown after the impact.
"Mr. Veltman, you were not filled with horror when you struck this family. You were filled with relief," she said.
Moser wrapped up her cross-examination by discussing far-right material Veltman had consumed on the day of the attack.
"You thought about what you were going to do, you were getting yourself ready for what you were going to do," she said.
Veltman claimed in response that he looked at that material "all the time," not just the day of the attack.
Moser also went over Veltman's decision to put on his homemade "crusades cross" shirt, body armour and helmet before hitting the Afzaals, claiming that shows he had planned the attack.
She also claimed he staged his apartment, knowing he was going to commit what she called a terrorist attack, leaving a USB device with his manifesto on it out in the open for police to find.
"That wasn't the intention," Veltman said after some hesitation.
"At that point in time, you were going out hunting for Muslims to find and to kill," Moser said of Veltman pulling over to put on the helmet and vest before the attack.
She suggested to Veltman that he was looking for a group of Muslims to target that included children.
"I had awareness that crashing into them would endanger him," Veltman said of the young boy he hit, but denied that he was looking for children when he went out for a drive that evening.
Moser also pointed out that Veltman told police he wanted to be "an inspiration" to other people with anti-Muslim views.
"You, yourself were inspired by men across the world, on the other side of the world in New Zealand, to commit violent acts against Muslims," Moser said.
Veltman rejected that as well.
"The Crown's suggestion sir, is because you've had nothing but time to think about what you did on June 6th, 2021, you've come up with this new version to help yourself live with what you did to this family," Moser said as she finished her cross-examination.
"No, I accept whatever happens," Veltman responded.
The trial resumes on Tuesday morning.