The person who stabbed 79-year-old Eric Kutzner to demise inside a Vancouver Island espresso store two years in the past has been discovered not criminally accountable – after the court docket heard a psychological dysfunction had left him satisfied his harmless sufferer was a zombie.
James Carey Turok was convicted of second-degree homicide in B.C. Supreme Courtroom however will obtain therapy at a forensic psychiatric hospital within the Decrease Mainland as a substitute of serving a life sentence in jail.
Affiliate Chief Justice Heather Holmes famous that two totally different psychiatrists concluded Turok had been affected by bipolar-type schizoaffective dysfunction for years main as much as the killing.
“Mr. Turok’s psychological dysfunction made him incapable of appreciating the character and high quality of his actions,” Holmes wrote in her March 27 determination, which was posted on-line Thursday.
“His psychosis precipitated him to imagine that Mr. Kutzner was not human.”
Sufferer serving to out at daughter’s store
The disturbing and unprovoked assault on Kutzner befell on Feb. 12, 2022, on the Buzz Espresso Home, which was owned by his daughter.
The court docket heard Kutzner would typically assist out on the Nanaimo enterprise – which has since closed – and was there earlier than opening to arrange baked items on the morning he was killed.
Turok walked in by way of a door Kutzner had left unlocked for arriving workers and proceeded to stab him “repeatedly concerning the face, neck, chest and again,” in line with the choice.
Staff who confirmed up round 8:45 a.m. discovered that very same door locked.
“Peering inside, they noticed Mr. Kutzner’s blood-soaked legs, and Mr. Turok strolling round, dripping blood,” Holmes wrote.
Within the aftermath of the tragic incident, Turok instructed police that his sufferer was a “zombie” or a “bag of puss” – remarks he had no recollection of creating when interviewed by the 2 psychiatrists earlier than trial.
Family members remembered Kutzner as a vibrant member of the neighborhood – a volunteer who devoted himself to advocating for seniors’ housing and serving to folks with disabilities.
A historical past of remission and relapse
Medical information indicated Turok first confirmed indicators of psychosis in 2012, and that he went by way of a sample of hospitalization, remission and relapse within the years that adopted.
“He was hospitalized in 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2020, throughout which he did nicely in the neighborhood whereas taking anti-psychotic medicine both voluntarily or as a situation of prolonged depart beneath the Psychological Well being Act,” Holmes wrote.
After going off his medicine, his psychotic signs would re-emerge.
There was no proof his psychological sickness had resulted in critical violence earlier than, nonetheless, and his prior legal file solely contained a single depend of mischief.
His psychotic signs generally led him to imagine he had “particular significance to heal and information folks,” in line with the choice, in addition to the flexibility to “talk telepathically, together with with celebrities, political figures, and others.”
Psychological state in decline
To those that knew Turok, his psychological well being gave the impression to be in decline within the days main as much as the killing – with some noting “unusual behaviour,” together with remarks that had been “near incoherent, and conspiracy-based,” Holmes wrote.
The court docket heard he had been off his medicine for practically 18 months at that time.
“Three days earlier than the offence, Mr. Turok introduced himself on the Nanaimo Regional Normal Hospital in an agitated state, demanding to see considered one of his psychiatrists, and left angrily, yelling and kicking on the door, when he was unable to take action,” the affiliate chief justice mentioned.
“Solely an hour or so earlier than the offence, Mr. Turok drove his automobile right into a median, the place he deserted it with the keys nonetheless within the ignition.”
With the discovering that he was not criminally accountable by cause of psychological dysfunction, Turok’s case was referred to the B.C. Evaluate Board for a listening to that should happen inside 90 days of the choice.
Within the meantime, Turok has been despatched to the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital, a safe facility in Coquitlam for treating the severely mentally ailing within the hopes of finally integrating them again into society.
