Man behind Toronto van attack to make virtual court appearance

The case of Alek Minassian returns to court Thursday.

Minassian drove a rental van down a busy Toronto sidewalk in April 2018, killing ten people.

He faces ten counts of first-degree murder for those deaths as well as 16 counts of attempted murder.

His judge alone trial was set to begin on April 6, but was postponed because of the pandemic.

The court is grappling with how to hold the high-profile murder trial, which set to begin on Nov. 9, under COVID-19 restrictions.

Minassian will make a virtual court appearance on Thursday.

The judge has said the case will turn on Minassian’s state of state of mind at the time of the attack, not whether he did it.