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The man who committed the Toronto van attack, which caused 10 deaths and 16 injuries, was found guilty of all 26 charges. The timetable for the sentence will arrive on March 18.
Judge Anne Molloy, who asked journalists not to publish the name of the perpetrator, issued the verdict on Wednesday.
Molloy said that much depended on whether the perpetrator knew that the crime was morally wrong, rather than legally wrong. This would mean that he lacked rational perception and, therefore, rational choice, being unable to rationally assess what he was doing.
Molloy said it was clear to her that he knew that the actions would be viewed “by the vast majority of society as morally wrong”.
Molloy said he concluded that the defense failed to prove that the perpetrator did not know that his crimes were morally wrong.
“He knew it was legally wrong to kill people, he also knew that his plan to run over and kill people was a first-degree murder … That’s why Mr. Doe tried to kill by a police officer,” said Molloy.
The culprit had previously admitted that he rented a van and drove it on the North York sidewalk in April 2018, intentionally targeting civilians and killing mostly women. The shocking incident was classified by many as an “incel” terrorist attack.
Incels, a “involuntary celibacy” case, usually describes a young man who fails to attract women sexually.
Molloy also said that the perpetrator rented the van more than three weeks before the attack and intentionally searched for a van that was large enough to cause as much damage as possible, but small enough to maneuver on the sidewalks and make sharp turns.
The culprit’s lawyers argued that his autism made it impossible for him to recognize the seriousness of his actions, something Molloy said the defense failed to do.
It is the first major case in which an autism spectrum disorder was used in an attempt to find someone not criminally responsible for a murder in Canada, according to CTV.
Canada’s penal code says that not being criminally responsible means that someone is “unable to assess the nature and quality of the act or omission or to know that it was wrong”.