Warning: this article may contain content that is distressing for some readers.
Day 13 of the Nathaniel Veltman trial began with a strongly worded reminder to the jury that they are not to discuss details of the case with anyone, including friends and family.
"The law requires that anything said in the deliberation room must remain confidential," Justice Renee Pomerance said, reminding that eliciting any outside opinions could colour jurors' views and is contrary to the oath that they swore as a juror in the case.
She added that they could blame her for not being able to discuss the case.
Thursday's first witness was Detective Constable Michael Comeau, a 20 year veteran of the London Police Service (LPS).
Det. Cst. Comeau's current role is with the Digital Forensics Unit (DFU). He told the jury he's tasked with seizing, analyzing, and reporting digital evidence.
Federal Prosecutor Sarah Shaikh asked Comeau to establish a timeline of the things he observed and did on June 12, 2021.
Comeau told her that he and his supervisor, Sergeant Jason Eddy, arrived at Veltman's apartment at 8:15 p.m. They were allowed into the apartment by Major Crimes at 8:32 p.m.
At this time, they were to observe the apartment for any digital evidence. Comeau described the apartment to the jury and told them he saw a cell phone sitting on a wireless charger, as well as a laptop, USB, and wireless mouse on a computer desk.
Shaikh then showed evidence photos for Comeau to corroborate his description.
Comeau then explained that Sgt. Eddy tried to "wake up" the phone by tapping on the screen. When that didn't work, he said Eddy touched the power button, which confirmed that the phone was fully charged, but turned off.
The two DFU officers then left the apartment while Forensic Identification officers took video inside.
Comeau told the jury that he and Eddy were allowed back into the apartment at 9:21 p.m. and six minutes later he left the building for the DFU lab with the cell phone in a marked and sealed evidence bag.
When he arrived at the lab, Comeau said he took the phone, described as a Samsung Galaxy S8, out of the evidence bag and photographed and analyzed the physical properties of the phone. He confirmed that he took the SIM card out of the phone before he turned it on before he attached it to the software that would create a forensic copy of the device. He said the process finished at 11:08 p.m.
Shaikh then confirmed with Comeau that only the five members of the DFU and select others who have special permission have access to the server where all of that data is stored.
Comeau was then asked about any other devices he had analyzed with respect to the investigation.
He recalled that he had created forensic copies of a Seagate external hard drive and a Kingston datatraveler USB on July 2, 2021 and a Lexar USB on July 5, 2021.
After the morning recess, defence lawyer Christopher Hicks briefly cross-examined Comeau.
The second witness called to the stand was Sgt. Eddy.
Eddy is a 23 year veteran of the LPS who has been with the DFU since 2007 and has been in charge of the unit for the last five years.
Shaikh established a timeline with Eddy, as she had with Comeau, asking him for his observations of the apartment.
Eddy confirmed that he saw the same devices on the desk as det. Cst. Comeau had, but added that he saw the Lexar USB sitting on an orange side table.
Shaikh asked if Eddy touched anything at that time, to which Eddy replied "yes." Because he wanted to preserve evidence and make sure nothing was actively being deleted from the devices, he checked the state of both the Samsung cell phone and the Acer laptop on the desk.
He remarked that the phone was charged, but turned off and that the laptop was on but locked on the home screen.
Eddy said he and Comeau then left the apartment for videos to be taken. When they returned, Eddy sent Comeau back to the DFU lab with the cell phone, while he stayed to continue assisting with the search warrant.
Eddy was shown a number of photos of evidence marked with numbered yellow evidence markers, including the laptop sitting on the desk, an external hard drive located in the drawer of a dresser, and the paperwork for the purchase of a black Dodge Ram pickup truck in a different dresser drawer.
Shaikh provided Eddy with the evidence bag containing the vehicle purchase information. He opened it to go through the contents for the jury. The paperwork included a bill of sale for the truck, a Carfax report, a warrant report, TD banking documents, a business card, and three receipts. The receipts showed payments of $800 dated May 12, 2020 (the year is handwritten and considered to be a mistake), $1,200 dated May 15, 2021, and $149 dated May 18, 2021.
All of the paperwork showed Veltman as the purchaser of the vehicle and was handed into the judge as an exhibit in the trial.
When Eddy left the apartment at 11:55 p.m., he left all of the evidence except for the laptop with the Major Crimes Unit. He told the jury that he took the computer directly to the DFU lab, leaving it open so it wouldn't turn off.
He explained that he created a forensic copy of the computer's hard drive using the same software that Det. Cst. Comeau described earlier.
Shaikh's last question for Eddy concerned him sending digital copies of the evidence to Sergeant Liyu Guan of the Windsor Police Service (WPS) in March 2023.
Eddy explained that he mailed an encrypted USB to Sgt. Guan on March 10, 2023 and provided the password for the encryption in a separate email.
During cross-examination, Hicks focused on how Eddy got into the hard drive of the laptop and whether the data could have been altered in any way. Eddy said that he first tried a provided password, which didn't work, then he tried several special forensic USB keys, before finally physically removing the hard drive and creating the copy. He noted that there was no way that the data on the laptop could have been altered.
Hicks then questioned the purchase of sale documents of the truck, emphasizing that Veltman had purchased an extended year-long warranty on the truck.
Eddy was then dismissed and court was adjourned until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, October 3.
Veltman 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.
