Murder suspect has mental disorder, lawyers argue

EDMONTON Defence lawyers for a man charged with stabbing to death and mutilating an ex-girlfriend are seeking to have him deemed not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder.

Silva Koshwal’s trial on charges of second-degree murder and offering indignity to human remains began Monday in an Edmonton courtroom. He is charged with killing 38-year-old Nadine Skow, an ex-girlfriend, in her apartment on or about Aug. 24, 2015.

In an agreed statement of facts read into the record by Crown prosecutor Laurie Trahan, court heard Skow’s heart, ovaries and uterus were removed and her genitals mutilated.

Her heart was found pinned to a wall with a knife, beneath a letter ‘A’ written in her blood.

Koshwal, sitting in the prisoner box wearing prisoner’s coveralls, kept his eyes downcast for most of the proceedings.

Around 20 people sat in the courtroom, including Skow’s mother, father, brother and sister-in-law.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sterling Sanderman accepted Koshwal killed Skow, and must now determine whether Koshwal bears criminal responsibility.

A forensic psychologist told court Koshwal suffers from mental disorders related to his early life in war-torn South Sudan.

Someone who is found not criminally responsible has been deemed by a judge or jury to have been suffering from a mental disorder while committing a criminal act, thus exempting them from criminal responsibility.

Under the Criminal Code, the disorder has to have rendered the person “incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act … or of knowing that it was wrong.”

Skow’s coworkers discovered her body in her apartment at 10650 104 St. on Aug. 25, 2015, after she failed to show up for work.

Trahan described the apartment as being in disarray and covered in blood. In all, Trahan said Skow suffered 101 external stab wounds, 63 of which occurred while she was still alive.

Around 12 a.m. on Aug. 24, one of Skow’s neighbours heard “thumping” coming from her apartment.

About midnight or 1 a.m., Skow ’s neighbour across the hall awoke to a strange man standing by her bed. The man ran out when she attacked him with an umbrella, but the neighbour did not call police.

Neighbours also reported hearing a scream from Skow’s apartment and moaning, as well as screams of “Help me, he’s going to kill me,” but nobody called the police.

Skow’s body was discovered Tuesday, Aug. 25, when a co-worker and a colleague visited Skow’s suite to check in on her.

According to the agreed facts, Koshwal turned himself in at police headquarters around 6 p.m. Aug. 25. Skow’s blood was found on his nail beds.

Defence counsel Peter Royal called forensic psychologist Dr. Leslie Block, who interviewed Koshwal face-to-face for 11 hours.

Block said Koshwal suffers from “pathological disassociation,” as well as “severe and complex” post-traumatic stress disorder that has never been treated.

Block said this likely springs from Koshwal’s early life in Sudan, in the midst of civil war and genocide when Koshwal was growing up.

Someone found not criminally responsible can be given an absolute discharge, a conditional discharge, or can be detained in hospital. The Crown is opposing the NCR and is expected to call its own psychologist to give evidence.

Five days have been set aside for trial.