'I was very disturbed': Accused in terrorism trial returns to testify for a second day

Nathaniel Veltman, 22, is back on the stand in a Windsor, Ont. courtroom, inching closer to his actions on June 6, 2021.

That’s the day five members of the Afzaal family were struck by a pickup truck while they waited to cross the street in London, Ont.

Four people died – Talat, Salman, Madiha and Yumnah Afzaal – while their nine-year-old son was seriously injured but survived.

Through evidence previously presented by the Crown, Veltman has admitted he was driving the pickup truck that hit the family.

Veltman is the first defence witness called by his lawyer Christopher Hicks.

During his first day of testimony, Veltman told the jury about his upbringing in a fundamentalist Christian household, raised by a religious and strict mother who he admits he “loathed.”

Veltman was homeschooled until grade 11, had very little access to television or the internet and his friends were only those from the family church circle.

During his evidence Friday, Veltman explained his history of suicidal thoughts and drug usage, specifically psilocybin, which is commonly referred to as magic mushrooms.

Veltman told the jury that in April 2020, he wanted to “experiment” with them as the pandemic had hit and his college classes were being cancelled.

"I took such a large amount that it triggered a psychotic event," Veltman testified, explaining he remembers,”Yelling and writhing on the floor” of his friends bathroom "in a state of agony."

As the drugs effectiveness wore off, Veltman said it was a “pleasurable experience” as he felt “reborn.”

Veltman also testified he had “this feeling of depersonalization” for days after he consumed the drugs.

Four months later when he said his mental health experienced a “period of decline,” he assumed it was from the psilocybin.

Hicks then fast forwarded to June 5, 2021 — the day before the Afzaal family was attacked.

Veltman admitted he pressured a friend from school to sell him psilocybin that came in a “labelled package” that wasn’t from a “street dealer.”

"I was begging him (his friend) to let me have it. I wanted to escape," Veltman told the jury. "I was feeling at the end of my rope in this state of mental deterioration."

Veltman told the jury his grandmother, whom he described as a substitute mother, died on June 4, 2021.

“I didn’t react normally to seeing her body. I was very disturbed,” he said.

After consuming alcohol with his friend, Veltman said he returned to his downtown London apartment and boiled more psilocybin to drink like a tea.

Veltman's evidence continues Friday.