Chan blamed deaths on magic mushrooms
Toxicologist testifies about the effects of magic mushrooms
Thomas Chan said “it was clearly the drugs” that caused what led to the stabbing death of his father, Dr. Andrew Chan, and near death of Lynn Witteveen.
“It was definitely the mushrooms,” Chan told police the morning he was arrested.
Chan, 21, is accused of murdering his gastroenterologist father, and attempting to kill Dr. Chan’s partner, Witteveen, at Dr. Chan’s Haggis Drive home on Dec. 28, 2015. The judge-alone trial began on Sept. 10 and is being heard by Justice Cary Boswell. Chan has pleaded not guilty to seconddegree murder and attempted murder.
On Tuesday, court heard an audio conversation recorded by Peterborough police when they escorted Chan to and from Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay. Video surveillance at the Water Street police station shows Staff Sgt. Peter Serjup telling Chan he’s wearing an audio recording device and that’s he not required to speak with police.
Despite the caution, Chan begins to tell police he suffered through depression and multiple concussions. He carries on by informing the officers he took mushrooms after drinking.
According to Chan, he read
The Third Eye, and started to meditate, and hallucinate. Chan said he thought he was God, but everyone was against him.
“It just went south from there,” he could be heard on the police recording.
Chan added that he took responsibility for what he described to police as a vicious, unprovoked attack.
“There’s nothing I can do to take it back,” he said.
“I never saw this happening. It was ridiculous. I was stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid.”
Chan went on to say that he’d do anything to put a focus on mental health and the use of drugs, court heard.
“I am all for that,” he said, asking the officers to believe him that he’s not a bad person.
“I feel so much regret. I can’t believe I put my family and friends through this.”
It was totally uncharacteristic of him, Chan added, and it wasn’t who he saw himself as.
“I thought I was turning it around and then the worst thing possible happened. I am so, so sorry,” he said.
Earlier in the day, toxicologist Daryl Mayers testified about the effects of magic mushrooms. Mayers said, on average, it takes 30 minutes for magic mushrooms to kick in. The high normally takes two hours to reach its full effect, and can last up to six hours, Mayers added.
Chan’s blood was taken about 22 hours after the attack. Psilocybin, the compound in magic mushrooms, wasn’t detected in the sample. However, the Centre of Forensic Sciences toxicologist couldn’t conclude there was no use of magic mushrooms because it was almost a day later when the sample was taken.
Psilocybin breaks down quickly in the body, Mayers said. Light and temperature during storage could also deteriorate the sample, he explained.
Mayers also testified it’s unlikely everyone would have the same reaction when a group of people took mushrooms from the same source.
“I’d be surprised to see the identical effects,” he explained.
As for the effects, Mayers testified they can be both physical and physiological. One can experience nausea, sweating and high blood pressure as well as different levels of hallucinations.
Pseudo-hallucinations are when there’s visual distortion but the person knows what they’re seeing isn’t real, he said. There are cases of stronger hallucinations when people truly believe what they’re see is happening, he said.
According to him, there have been cases when people become violent. A person’s personality, including any underlining issues and the environment they’re in may change the effects.
“Those (when a person becomes violent) are less frequent but have to be acknowledged,” he explained, adding the more intense effects are associated with higher levels of potency.
Potency, however, can’t be known unless testing the mushrooms specifically in question, court heard.