A provincial court has found the cook who stabbed a co-worker at a Newmarket Main Street restaurant in June 2023 not criminally responsible due to mental illness.
Justice Marcella Henschel determined the culprit was not criminally responsible due to a schizophrenia diagnosis from the Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences. The Ontario Court of Justice released the judgment Aug. 16 after hearing the case April 23.
The man, 19 at the time, stabbed another cook at Made in Mexico, critically injuring him. The culprit also later stabbed a person at Southlake Regional Health Centre with a pencil. Henschel wrote she was satisfied that the culprit did not fully understand his actions.
“I have no doubt that in this case both attacks were caused by (the culprit’s) active psychotic symptoms which flowed from his mental disorder,” Henschel wrote. “I find, on June 9, 2023, (his) paranoid delusions caused him to irrationally believe he was in danger from (the victim). They caused him to perceive the wrongful act of stabbing (the victim) as right or justifiable. The disordered condition of Mr. [name removed] mind deprived him of the ability to rationally evaluate what he was doing.”
The man was initially charged by York Regional Police with attempted murder. The altercation occurred in the restaurant’s kitchen, with the victim rushed to hospital after the stabbing.
Due to the perpetrator being found not criminally responsible, BradfordToday and InnisfilToday are withholding his name.
Both the victim and perpetrator knew each other, Henschel wrote, and were co-workers and friends.
When interviewed by police, the ruling recounted that the culprit said that he “felt threatened” by the victim. The perpetrator would go on to tell his doctor that, two days before the stabbing, the victim bumped into him and stared at him. The perpetrator said he believed the bumping was intentional and the victim was going to hurt him.
The perpetrator told forensic psychiatrist “Dr. (Misha) Hartfeil he felt threatened … but could not explain why. He said he wanted to get back at but also said he felt the need to defend himself. (The perpetrator) told Dr. Hartfeil that over the next two days, he thought about stabbing or killing (the victim). He tried to push the idea out of his head but was unable to do so.”
The perpetrator stabbed the victim twice in the abdomen with a four-inch knife. The victim suffered life-threatening injuries and had to have a kidney removed, along with damage to the small and large intestines.
“In addition to his serious physical injuries, he has been significantly impacted psychologically, emotionally, and financially,” the ruling said of the victim. “Before the offence, he was helping to support his family. The stabbing will have a significant ongoing impact on (the victim) in the future.”
Authorities released the perpetrator on June 15, 2023, subject to house arrest and constant parental supervision. Three days later, his mother called 911 due to concerns about the perpetrator’s mental state and he was transported to Southlake’s psychiatric ward voluntarily. He would remain there until July 9, 2023.
That day, a patient at Southlake was in a wheelchair watching television when the perpetrator came from behind, pulled out a pencil and “viciously stabbed him four times on the right side of the neck.” The two did not know each other and the stabbing was entirely unprovoked, the ruling said.
The ruling said the pencil did not penetrate deeply but did cause superficial injuries.
The perpetrator was sedated following the stabbing and remained in custody from July 9, 2023 to April 23, 2024. The perpetrator later told Dr. Hartfiel that there was no reason for the stabbing.
“He said there was no thought behind it, just a sudden action he did not understand. In a few interviews he said he felt the voices, which were distressing to him, would not stop if he did not take this action,” the ruling said.
The perpetrator later told a member of the hospital staff that regarding the pencil stabbing, the voices said, “Do it, do it, even if you don’t want to.”
Before the incidents, the culprit had no criminal record and worked at Made in Mexico for more than four years part time throughout high school. He was not taking any medication and a toxicology screening done upon his admission to Southlake was negative for all substances of abuse. The culprit had no documented mental health history or psychiatric treatment before June 9, 2023.
Hartfeil diagnosed the culprit with schizophrenia and indicated he was suffering from it at the time of the offences, which Henschel said she was satisfied with.
Henschel has put the case to a review board to determine what happens next to the culprit. He noted that a finding of not criminally responsible does not mean there are no consequences, with a person potentially being subject to state control for a longer period, stringent conditions, and possible detention in a secure hospital setting “involving serious deprivation of liberty and the possibility of lifelong suspension.”
However, the review board will impose a disposition aimed at protecting the community from the accused. But the board decision must also aim to treat the mentally ill offender while imposing “the least liberty restriction compatible with public safety.”
