A Canadian court sentenced this Tuesday to life imprisonment a teenager who in 2020 murdered a woman in the city of Toronto inspired by the ideology known as incel.
The young man, who cannot be identified because he was 17 years old when he committed the murder and whose initials are only known, J.C., will not be able to apply for parole for 10 years.
Last year, J.C., now 20, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and attempted murder.
Although the individual was a minor when he murdered Ashley Noelle Arzaga, 24, an employee of a massage parlor, with a sword, Judge Sukhail Akhtar decided to sentence him as an adult for the “horrific crime” he committed.
Akhtar had previously decided that the deadly attack was an act of terrorism because it was inspired by incel ideology, so called because its followers identify as “involuntary celibates” or “involuntary celibates,” men who hold the women in their lives responsible. without sexual relations.
It is the first time that a judge in Canada considers an attack by an incel a terrorist act.
The teenager spent a large amount of time on the internet soaking up incel ideology, which is characterized by its misogyny and violence against women, according to the judge.
The judge also rejected that J.C. would have suffered “brainwashing”, as his lawyers argued, he said that the young man actively searched the Internet for incel channels and “accepted” his ideology.
Canada has been the scene of several incel attacks in recent years. The most serious was committed in 2018 by Alek Minassian and which caused the death of 10 people and the injury of 16 others.
Minassian, who drove a van into dozens of pedestrians on a busy Toronto street, was sentenced in 2022 to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years.