Accused in stabbing death not criminally responsible

CROWN AND DEFENCE AGREE WOMAN WAS MENTALLY ILL

A Toronto woman accused in a fatal stabbing suffers from a mental disorder and should be found not criminally responsible, Crown and defence lawyers told her first-degree murder trial on Friday.

Both sides agreed that Rohinie Bisesar was ill at the time of the incident, which took place at a Shoppers Drug Mart in Toronto’s busy financial district in December 2015.

Bisesar, 43, has pleaded not guilty in the death of Rosemarie Junor.

Two psychiatrists concluded that Bisesar was under intense delusions and hallucinations that commanded her to hurt someone, court heard.

“Both reports suggest Rohinie Bisesar suffered from a major mental disorder, schizophrenia, at the time,” her defence lawyer, Robert Karrass, told the court.

The crown agreed, saying Bisesar met the threshold for being found not criminally responsible.

The incident on Dec. 11, 2015 was captured entirely by surveillance cameras, the trial heard.

Junor, an ultrasound technician, was on an afternoon break picking up lotion for her newlywed husband at the Shoppers Drug Mart in an underground concourse, court heard.

The 28-year-old was talking on the phone with a friend as she shopped when Bisesar walked in and went straight to Junor, picking her at random, the Crown told court.

“Rohinie Bisesar had stabbed Rosemarie Junor once directly in the heart,” Crown attorney Beverley Richards said.