A 65-year-old woman who suffered severe injuries in Toronto’s deadly van attack on April 23, 2018, has died after spending more than three years in hospital, police say.
A 65-year-old woman who suffered severe injuries in Toronto’s deadly van attack has died after spending more than three years in hospital, police announced Thursday.
Police said in a news release that Amaresh Tesfamariam of Toronto had been in hospital since the attack on April 23, 2018, and died on Oct. 28 of the injuries she suffered.
Tesfamariam was one of 14 people struck when Alek Minassian drove a rented van down a sidewalk on Yonge Street, near Finch Avenue, that day. Her death raises the number of people who died to 11.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy found Minassian, who was 25 at the time of the attack, guilty on 10 counts of first-degree murder and 16 counts of attempted murder. Minassian is next scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 11, 2022 to possibly set a date for sentencing.
Toronto police say Tesfamariam’s death is now considered a homicide, but Minassian will not face another murder charge.
Police spokesperson Const. David Hopkinson said the charge can’t be upgraded to first-degree murder because too much time has elapsed since she was injured.
“It is my understanding that a new charge will not be laid,” Hopkinson said. “But the judge will consider that there is a new victim in sentencing.”