Alek Minassian understands others’ thoughts and feelings, psychologist testifies at van attack trial

By News Staff, The Canadian Press

Warning: Details of the trial are graphic in nature, discretion is advised

A psychologist testifying for the prosecution says the man who killed 10 people in Toronto’s van attack is capable of moral reasoning and understands other people’s thoughts and feelings.

Dr. Percy Wright has painted a starkly different picture of Alek Minassian than an American psychiatrist who testified for the defence.

Dr. Alexander Westphal testified that Minassian lacks empathy and does not understand the moral wrongfulness of killing 10 people, but said a finding of criminal responsibility is a legal matter rather than a psychiatric one.

Minassian has pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 of attempted murder.

The defence argues Minassian should be found not criminally (NCR) responsible for his actions on April 23, 2018, due to autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Minassian has admitted to planning and carrying out the attack, which leaves his state of mind at the time the sole issue at trial.

Westphal concludes testimony

After a days-long grilling by the Crown that at times left him flummoxed and frustrated, Westphal concluded Tuesday his position remains the same: Minassian “didn’t fully understand the wrongfulness of his actions” because of autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

After facing searing questioning from Crown prosecutor Joseph Callaghan for the large part of a week, the defence had a chance to re-examine Westphal on Tuesday morning.

Defence attorney Boris Bytensky tried to discredit Callaghan’s staunch assertions that Minassian had relatively normal social interactions, and at times, showed empathy.

Last week Callaghan presented evidence from Facebook conversations and text messages that Minassian had with friends that painted a picture of routine socializing and conversation. Callaghan said those interactions contrasted Westphal’s findings that Minassian suffered from severe social and communication deficits.

On Tuesday, Bytensky referred to a section of Westphal’s notes where Minassian discussed his dismal social life at college, saying: “I was invisible, a grain of dust.”

“To him he felt like no one even saw him,” Westphal testified.

When Minassian was asked during his assessment with Wesphal’s team of doctors about hiding his plans for the van attack from his parents, Callaghan argued that his apparent concern for them showed a level of empathy.

“Their reaction would be so devastating that it was more urgent for me, of most importance, that I needed to hide (my plans),” Minassian is quoted in Westphal’s notes.

But Westphal said Tuesday that Minassian was more concerned with the attack being thwarted than anything else.

“His concern was (his parents) would interrupt the plan as opposed to any impact it would have on them,” he said.

When asked if would change anything about his testimony if he could go back, Westphal said his position remains unmoved.

“No, Mr. Minassian has autism and to me it’s very clear that he didn’t fully understand the wrongfulness of his actions and that springs from a disability … related to his development of empathy and moral reasoning and I see that as an aspect of his neurodevelopmental condition (ASD).”

Shortly after a lunch break, Westphal’s testimony concluded and he was dismissed, making way Dr. Wright’s testimony.

CityNews reporter Adrian Ghobrial is covering the trial, follow his tweets below:

On Monday, the court heard that Minassian would tell his victims he committed the attack because he was lonely and angry at society. He gave that explanation to Westphal in one of the pair’s numerous meetings in 2019 and earlier this year.

But Westphal said Minassian was just saying what he thought victims would want to hear.

Callaghan argued that Minassian’s comments on what he would tell his victims demonstrated his ability to view the perspective of those he attacked.

Westphal, as he has much of the past several days of cross-examination, disagreed with Callaghan.

The psychiatrist has previously testified that due to his ASD, Minassian does not have the ability to take the perspective of others.

In his report on Minassian that was submitted to the court, Westphal concluded the man was not psychotic at the time, but had “an autistic way of thinking that was severely distorted in a way similar to psychosis.”

The court also heard Monday that Minassian had thought about abandoning the attack right up until the moment he stopped at a red light across the street from his first group of victims.

Another psychiatrist previously testified Minassian does not meet the test to be found NCR.

 

 

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