TORONTO – The man who sparked pandemonium at a Toronto mall when he opened fire in a crowded food court was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder at the time, a psychiatrist told Christopher Husbands’s trial on Monday, laying the foundation for what’s expected to be a not criminally responsible defence in the case.
Dr. Julian Gojer told the jury hearing the case that Husbands began displaying signs and symptoms of PTSD after a brutal beating and stabbing at the hands of men he knew, which took place months before the mall shooting.
“To be assaulted, beaten, stabbed, and to have your face duct taped, not being able to see … to me that would be an extremely traumatic event,” he said, detailing the near fatal February 2012 attack on Husbands. “To me it’s almost akin to torture.”
Gojer’s testimony is significant because it provides insight on Husbands’s possible state of mind on the day he opened fire at the Eaton Centre in June 2012.
The psychiatrist has interviewed Husbands several times, analysed his prison medical records and psychological tests conducted on him. He has also seen surveillance footage of the mall shooting which has been viewed at the trial.
“Mr. Husbands suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and continues to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. That’s a clinical opinion,” Gojer said when asked for his conclusion on Husbands.
Husbands, 25, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting and has denied that he went to the mall with the intention of killing anyone.
He has also pleaded not guilty to five counts of aggravated assault, one of criminal negligence causing bodily harm, and one of recklessly discharging a firearm.
The Crown has alleged Husbands gunned down two men at the mall in deliberate retaliation for the stabbing earlier that year.
But Husbands has told his trial that he fired in a blind panic at a group of men in the mall who had been involved in his stabbing, saying he believed the men were out to kill him.
He has also told the trial he does not remember exactly what happened when he looked up and saw two men he believed were about to attack him. He has said he remembers hearing a loud bang and that everything “got kind of dark.” He has also said he doesn’t remember bolting from the food court in the moments after the shooting.
Gojer – who was called to testify by Husbands’s defence team – said the jury in the trial has to consider the extent to which Husbands’s PTSD impacted his behaviour in the lead-up to the shooting that terrified hundreds at the mall.
“What meaning did they have in that precise moment in time when he pulled the trigger?” he mused on the witness stand.
Gojer also said someone with PTSD would view their environment in a different light.
“It’s almost like you have a new set of lenses that you are wearing where the world is no longer a safe place. The world is now a dark and moody place,” he said. “There’s also a sense of helplessness…it’s a terrifying feeling.”
An individual with PTSD might also develop a sense of paranoia, Gojer added.
“If you become paranoid with respect to a group of individuals who stabbed you or attacked you and these individuals are still at large in the community, the paranoia that you have is a more realistic paranoia,” he said.
Husbands’s lawyer said outside court that he will be bringing evidence before the trial of a lack of criminal responsibility on Husbands’s part.
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