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Accused not criminally responsible

Court rules attacker in fatal stabbing at TFN in 2013 not responsible due to a mental disorder

The accused in a fatal 2013 stabbing at the Tsawwassen First Nation has been found not criminally responsible for his actions. At a hearing in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster

Tuesday, the man, who was 17 at the time of the incident and cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, admitted to the attack that left one teen dead and another critically injured. However, the court ruled he could not be held criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

Police were called to a residence on Tsawwassen Drive at around 10 p.m. on Feb. 15, 2013. Upon arrival, officers discovered two teenaged girls suffering from stab wounds lying on the ground.

Both were treated at the scene before being airlifted to hospital.

The 16-year-old victim succumbed to her injuries while the 15-year-old survived.

The suspect was taken into custody later the next morning.

The accused and the victims were known to each other.

Before the ruling, the lead prosecutor told the court the Crown agreed that a finding of not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder is correct in the case.

The defense called only one witness in the hearing, a forensic psychiatrist.

She is an expert on the mental state of individuals at the time a crime is committed and interviewed the accused on five occasions last fall, concluding the stabbing was a result of paranoid delusions, a symptom of his schizophrenia.

She said the mental illness also affects his ability to assess morality. The psychiatrist said he doesn't understand moral issues in the same way other people do and he didn't see the attack as something that is morally wrong. She said that is consistent with schizophrenia.

The doctor that testified, and both the Crown and the defense agreed, the accused should be hospitalized for treatment. "I just think it's time to get on with some treatment," the judge said in handing down the ruling.

The case has now been referred to the B.C. Review Board, which has the authority to make decisions and orders concerning people who have been found to be not criminally responsible for acts committed while they were suffering from a mental disorder, or whose mental disorder makes them unfit to stand trial.

The review board must hold a hearing and make a disposition within 45 days of the verdict.

There are three possible outcomes - an absolute discharge, a discharge with conditions or custody where the accused is detained in a hospital.