Sentencing hearing begins for University of Waterloo stabber

A sentencing hearing began Monday for the man who stabbed a professor and two students at the University of Waterloo.

Geovanny Villalba-Aleman pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault, one count of assault with a weapon and one count of assault causing bodily harm last June, roughly a year after the attack.

An agreed statement of facts previously read in court said Villalba-Aleman told police he carried out the attack because he believed post-secondary institutions were ‘forcing ideology’ on people.

It said he told police he went into the gender studies class because of the subject matter being taught and specifically targeted the professor.

Victim impact statements were also heard during the hearing.

The University of Waterloo professor who was stabbed in her gender-studies class during last year’s attack said the incident has left her in a state of perpetual vigilance while teaching and stoked fears that others may be inspired to commit similar acts of violence on campus.

The professor, whose nose and arm were slashed, went on to lay out the emotional, physical and professional impact of the attack in a Kitchener courtroom Monday.

She described regularly waking up in tears in the immediate aftermath of the June 2023 stabbing, and worrying that she had not done enough to protect her students.

The former University of Waterloo student, who was 24-year-old at the time of the attack, initially faced 11 charges.

The Public Prosecution Service of Canada said his offences constitute terrorist activity.