Sentencing for UW stabber delayed to March 17

| January 27, 2025

The sentencing for Geovanny Villalba Aleman, who stabbed a professor and two students during a gender issues lecture at UW’s Hagey Hall in June 2023, was delayed to March 17. The decision was originally scheduled for today, Jan. 27. 

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 in June 2024. 

The sentencing hearing took place from Oct. 21-25, 2024. The court heard victim impact statements from professor Katy Fulfer and two students, a police interview of Villalba Aleman on the day of the attack, a psychologist who assessed him, and arguments for and against a terrorism charge. 

Justice Frances Brennan was to determine whether his actions were hate motivated, an act of terrorism, or neither. 

Villalba Aleman was an international student who came to Canada from Ecuador to study physics at UW in 2018. He was 24 at the time of the attack.

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