Killer found not criminally responsible

A grieving mother broke down sobbing Wednesday morning, tearfully telling court she was unable to read the victim impact statement she wrote, describing how the stabbing death of her oldest daughter changed her life forever.

Cindy Torbar, who was knifed “at least” 127 times by tenant and then-Trent University student John Lai at her Middlefield Rd. home on March 18, 2016, had a heart that was “as big as the world,” MaryAnne McKeown wrote.

“She would help anyone who needed a hand,” her other daughter, Diana Fitzgerald, read on her behalf as she sat beside her mom in the witness box of Peterborough Superior Court of Justice, where the 26-year-old was found not criminally responsible for the stabbing.

McKeown wrote about how she has difficulty sleeping because of her nightmares about what happened to her daughter, who was stabbed in the head, neck, torso and right and left upper extremities, even after she was already dead.

“The life I once knew has been completely shattered,” Fitzgerald read from the statement, where McEwen wrote how she feels she will never feel peace or closure. “The death of your child is the worst thing life can throw at you ... I miss Cindy so much and my life will never be the same.”

Fitzgerald was also among three family members to read victim impact statements.

She wrote about how Torbar was more than a big sister to her. Their mother was single, so she played a big role in raising her little sister.

“She touched the lives of every single person she met,” said a tearful Fitzgerald, recalling holding their weeping mother, who she had to deliver the terrible news to over the phone. “There is nothing I can do to take her pain away.”

“Our family is forever broken. All I have are the memories I now hold closest to my heart,” she said.

Torbar’s uncle, Ralph Seamons, addressed Lai directly, saying “Who did this? You,” several times after explaining different impacts of the killing.

“We’regoingtomissCindy’slaughter, and Cindy had a laugh like no other,” he said, concluding by telling Lai the family will not speak about him anymore after Wednesday, because that is what Torbar would have wanted them to do. “From here on out, you are nothing.”

A fourth victim impact statement from a friend was filed, but not read aloud in court. Eight members of Torbar’s family were seated in the gallery.

The statements showed how tDefence lawyer Daniel Kirby then told court Lai asked him to tell the family that he is very sorry for their pain and suffering.

“He never wished to harm Cindy. He hopes they will understand,” he said.

Madame Justice Michelle Fuerst delivered her judgment following a disposition hearing held Monday where the prosecution and defence jointly requested she find Lai not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder.

Psychologist Dr. Scott Woodside, who assessed Lai for more than four hours last summer at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), concluded that Lai suffered from schizophrenia, among other issues, at the time of the stabbing.

He suffered from hallucinations and delusions and those psychotic symptoms existed for months after the killing, the doctor said.

The judge said Wednesday the doctor’s report was “uncontradicted,” agreeing with his conclusions that the killer didn’t appreciate his actions, was incapable of knowing they were wrong and still poses a “significant threat” to the community.

Lai told the doctor that an angel told him Torbar had a demon in her, and that if he killed it, it would free her soul, Fuerst said. He also said God made the first bullets fired by police disappear and that he was doing good by his actions.

Lai’s family noted odd and concerning behaviour in the year leading up to the killing.

Lai, who moved to Peterborough in September 2015, lived upstairs at 261 Middlefield Rd., where he rented a room from Torbar.

On March 18, Lai’s sister awoke to find him in her room with his hands around her neck, yelling “there is a demon in you and I have to get it out.” She managed to calm him down and get him off her, but he refused to go to hospital.

Later police were called to a disturbance at the address at about 11:45 p.m. The first officer through the door, Const. Ryan Ready, observed Lai at the top of the stairs in a bedroom doorway, holding a 10-inch butcher knife covered in blood, standing over Torbar’s lifeless body.

Lai looked at the officer and stated something about demons. He yelled to drop the knife several times, but Lai did not comply. He repeated something about demons at which point Ready drew and pointed his gun at Lai, who then hid behind the wall of the bedroom.

As the officer approached up the stairs continuing to yell at Lai to drop the knife, he came out from behind the wall and lunged at the body of Torbar again, stabbing her in the back. The officer fired twice before hitting Lai, causing him to fall back onto the bed and drop the knife.

After declaring Lai not criminally responsible Wednesday, Fuerst referred the matter to the Ontario Review Board, which will decide Lai’s future.

He was returned to Lindsay’s Central East Correctional Centre on Wednesday, with plans to transfer him to Whitby’s Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences on Thursday. The judge also endorsed a recommendation that Lai be transferred to CAMH, when possible.

NOTE: Read more details and view the entire agreed statement of facts in the case at www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com.