University of Waterloo stabbing was hate crime, not terrorism: judge [Video]

A mass stabbing at a University of Waterloo gender studies class was not a terrorist attack but a “particularly grave” hate crime meant to make people feel unsafe in those spaces, an Ontario judge ruled Monday in sentencing the attacker to 11 years in prison.

The judge sentencing Geovanny Villalba-Aleman told a Kitchener, Ont., court that the evidence in the case does not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that his hatred toward the LGBTQ+ community had crystallized into an ideology, which is one of the requirements for a finding of terrorism.

However, Ontario Court Justice Frances Brennan found hatred against that community was “the primary motivation” for the June 2023 stabbing, which is a significant aggravating factor.

“Mr. Villalba-Aleman planned this attack. He posted a boastful and hateful statement of his intention and committed the offence in a university classroom, no doubt to draw widespread attention to his crime,” Brennan said.

“This was not an impulsive act by …