Most-read stories of the week: stabbing confession, careless driving plea, and big problems for tiny homes

Video shows moment University of Waterloo attacker admits to triple stabbing

Warning: There are graphic details in this story.

Disturbing evidence is being shared for the first time of the 2023 attack at the University of Waterloo.

An audio recording of the stabbing, along with video of the aftermath and the attacker's abrupt confession, were submitted into evidence last week when Geovanny Villalba-Aleman pled guilty to four assault-related charges.

CTV News has now obtained all of the recordings.

At the time of the attack, Villalba-Aleman was a 24-year-old international student who had recently graduated from the University of Waterloo.

As part of his plea, court heard an audio recording of the moments leading up to the stabbings on June 28, 2023.

Villalba-Aleman can be heard interrupting the gender studies lecture.

After a brief discussion with the professor, the classroom erupts into panicked screams.

The professor and two other students were hurt in the attack.

93-year-old pleads guilty to careless driving after crash involving CTV Kitchener reporter

A 93-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to careless driving causing bodily harm in the crash that sent CTV News Kitchener reporter Stephanie Villella to hospital with life-threatening injuries last year.

On March 1, 2023, Villella was at the intersection of Brock Road and Maltby Road, which had been closed and barricaded by police, when she was hit by the then 92-year-old woman driving a sedan.

At the time of the crash, Villella was gathering images of a separate two-vehicle crash that happened on Brock Road earlier in the day.

Almost two months later, the driver was charged with careless driving causing bodily harm.

According to a provincial offences court clerk, the driver appeared in court on Friday for a judicial pre-trial. After pleading guilty, the fine imposed was $2,000 along with a driver’s licence suspension of one year. The woman voluntarily turned her driver’s licence in to the Ministry of Transportation and will no longer be driving.

Villella and her family filed a lawsuit against the driver who hit her, an unnamed Guelph police officer, the Guelph Police Service, Ontario Provincial Police and the province for a collective $15.7 million in damages.

The Province has now filed a statement of defence on behalf of the OPP, as well as a third party claim against Villella’s employer Bell Media.

None of the allegations made in the lawsuit, or counter claims made through statements of defence, have been tested or proven in court.

CTV Kitchener is a division of Bell Media.

What’s behind the enrolment boom at the University of Guelph

The University of Guelph says they planned for growth in 2024 – and they achieved it.

More than 7,000 new students will become Gryphons this September.

The problem is the university only has 5,050 residence spaces currently available.

On Monday, an email went out to 1,365 first-years stating they had been put on a residence waitlist. It also explained that each student had randomly been assigned a number to hold their place in line.

According to the University of Guelph, anyone with a number below 150 or 200 has a reasonable chance at getting into residence this fall.

The University of Guelph said they’re facing significant financial pressures that’s forced them to expand enrolment.

The school said a provincial policy freezing tuition rates for the last five years has put a significant financial strain on most post-secondary institutions.

The University of Guelph campus. (Source: U of G's website)

Kitchener, Ont. woman says too much red tape around tiny homes

A Kitchener, Ont. woman wants to install a tiny home in her backyard but she keeps running into red tape.

Wendy Woolcox owns a duplex with her partner and has a tenant renting one side of the building. She also wants to add a tiny home to her backyard for a second tenant to rent.

She started seeking a building permit at the beginning of May, and that’s when the headaches started.

“We've come up with everything that they've asked for. Now we're back to a zoning problem that should have been done at the very beginning. We've met with Grand River Conservation people. We've got all of these other permits in a row. Everything. Now [the issue is] my driveway is too wide.”

The city says the concrete at the side of her driveway, where her current and futures tenants will park, is too wide.

The driveway was expanded in the 1980s, well before Woolcox bought the property, to include a pad area for extra parking.

Forty years later, city staff have looked at the building permit process and said the work wasn’t legal. They’ve told her the pad of concrete either needs to be turned into a patio or blocked with bollards or large rocks.

Wendy Woolcox's backyard in Kitchener, Ont. on June 11, 2024, where she wants to build a tiny home. (Colton Wiens/CTV Kitchener)

Country duo from North Dumfries, Ont. make their big American debut

A Canadian country duo from North Dumfries, Ont. played in front of a worldwide audience on Tuesday night.

Siblings Jenna and Stuart Walker, better known as The Reklaws, performed their new single on the TV show America’s Got Talent.

“It kind of fell into our laps because we just put out a song with Drake Milligan, who’s part of America’s Got Talent, and the producers reached out and asked if we wanted to audition,” explained Jenna on Wednesday. “It was terrifying because we have a career here [in Canada] and we knew it was kind of putting ourselves on the line to see if we could get judged by Simon Cowell. Which is terrifying.”

The Reklaws ultimately decided to perform their new single titled ‘People Don’t Talk About.”

At the end of the performance, judge Howie Mandel praised their song choice.

The Reklaws, Jenna and Stuart Walker, in an interview with CTV News Kitchener on June 12, 2024.