Thomas Chan guilty of manslaughter, aggravated assault
Local man was accused of killing his father, injuring father’s partner
Justice Cary Boswell has found Thomas Chan guilty of manslaughter and aggravated assault.
“Mr. Chan is not a danger to the public,” Boswell said in his decision in front of an emotionally charged courtroom at Peterborough Superior Court on Dec. 6.
“He is a good kid who got super high and did horrific things while experiencing a drug-related induced psychosis.”
Chan, 21, stabbed his father,
Dr. Andrew Chan, and Dr. Chan’s partner, Lynn Witteveen, at Dr. Chan’s Haggis Drive home on Dec. 28, 2015.
Peterborough police were called to the home in the earlier morning hours. Dr. Chan was pronounced dead at the scene while Witteveen was airlifted to a Toronto hospital clinging to life.
The former rugby standout has maintained that his concussions and ingestion of magic mushrooms led to the stabbings of his father and Witteveen.
During the trial, Boswell heard how Chan and three other friends were going to take magic mushrooms. Those friends have testified that Chan’s behaviour started to change in the early morning hours of Dec. 28. Chan’s mother, Rosalia Vastano, said she was awoken shortly after 3 a.m. by her son. She, along with Chan’s sister, Christina, testified Chan called them the devil and Satan before running out of the house shoeless and shirtless toward his father’s home. Six neighbours testified they heard utterances of “This is God’s will, this is God’s way, I am sorry but I would go it again.”
Boswell said it was apparent to him that Chan was experiencing an acute break in reality at the time the offences were committed.
“His actions and words were bizarre,” Boswell explained. “He lost touch with reality. He became aggressive and extremely violent.”
At the conclusion of the trial,
the Crown conceded it couldn’t prove Chan had certain intent or purpose to kill his father and attempt to kill Witteveen.
“There appears to have been absolutely no rational motive for the attacks,” Boswell said. “Mr. Chan is a really good person. And something really bad happened to him and to some of people closet to him in his life.”
Boswell was left to decide whether or not Chan was suffering from a mental illness at the time of the crime.
Chan’s defence team of Dave McFadden and Joleen Hiland argued their client wasn’t criminally responsible due to a disease of the mind caused by the combination of traumatic brain injury and magic mushrooms.
“This case is not about whether Mr. Chan did the acts he is alleged to have done,” explained Boswell.
“This case is about whether he is criminally liable for his acts.”
According to the law, no person is criminally responsible for an act committed while suffering from a mental disorder that rendered the person incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act or knowing that it was wrong.
“I conclude that Mr. Chan was not rendered incapable of knowing his actions were wrong by his mild traumatic brain injury,” explained Boswell. “I conclude that he was incapacitated by the effects of the drugs he consumed.”
Boswell agreed that Chan suffered a traumatic brain injury from concussions caused by playing rugby, but he wasn’t in the position to draw the inferences counsel urged upon him.
“I do not think that there is a sufficient scientific basis upon which to conclude that Mr. Chan’s mild traumatic brain injury made him more vulnerable to the effects of psilocybin (magic mushrooms),” his honour explained.
“I acknowledge that it may well be that the science just isn’t there yet.”
The prosecution team of Crown attorney Frank Schwalm, assistant crown attorney Andrew Midwood and Peterborough police detective Jo-Anne Elliott believed it was solely the magic mushrooms responsible for Chan’s actions.
Boswell found Chan experienced a sudden onset of psychosis that coincided directly with the ingestion and absorption of magic mushrooms.
“The psychosis dissipated as the effect of the drugs wore off,” Boswell said.
“The progression and course of his psychosis is highly suggestive that it was caused by the effects of the drugs and not an internal mental disorder.”
Boswell will hear sentencing submissions on Jan. 15.