Warning: this article may contain content that is distressing for some readers.
Week four of the trial for the man accused of deliberately running down and killing a Muslim family in London started with the prosecution trying to establish who owned the laptop computer seized by London police after the tragedy nearly 28 months ago.
The prosecution is trying to prove that Nathaniel Veltman was motivated by hate ideology, he intended to kill, and the murders were a terrorist act.
Veltman already admitted during initial London police interviews that he was inspired by white nationalism and struck the Afzaal family because they were Muslim.
Windsor Police Sergeant Liyu Guan, a digital forensic examiner, took the stand on Tuesday at Veltman's murder trial telling the Ontario Superior Court in Windsor his investigation of the laptop, cell phone, and several data storage devices seized from Veltman's downtown London apartment took two weeks and he found evidence the laptop was linked to Veltman.
Sgt. Guan told jurors he found a file with an early draft of a manifesto titled "The White Awakening."
He also said the data analysis showed someone named Nate was the owner and user of the recovered laptop computer based on the Windows identification information.
On the laptop, he also found several emails and files with Veltman's name, along with credit card information, and a Fanshawe College project with Veltman's name.
Guan noted he cracked the computer's password using software called Passware to login and found an icon on the desktop for a tool used to hide user identification on the dark web, downloads with a passport and a driver's licence with Veltman's name, and installation of a Bit Torrent tool used for decentralized peer-to-peer file sharing.
Guan was ruled as qualified by Justice Renee Pomerance to give expert opinion on data extraction because of his extensive qualifications and specialized training. Guan said he was very familiar with these investigations having been a digital forensics examiner at Windsor police for 12 years. He also holds a masters degree in forensic computers and cyber crime, and is a software engineer and software developer.
Guan said the recovered data was analyzed using top rated, proven software tools, such as Axiom, X-Rays, and Cellebrite to verify the data and its integrity.
Sgt. Guan also told the jury during his examination by the Crown that he loaded evidence from five files onto the Windsor police server, let the software process, viewed and double checked the results, determined if the evidence and the findings were relevant to his examination, and concluded he had enough information for the investigation, which resulted in three reports.
Veltman has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder after his truck intentionally hit five members of the Afzaal family while they were out for a walk on the evening of June 6, 2021.
Talat Afzaal, 74, her son Salman Afzaal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, and their 15-year-old daughter Yumnah Afzaal were all killed. Their young son was the lone survivor.
The trial continues on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. with more forensic testimony from Sgt. Guan and cross examination by the defence.