Saskatoon mother found not criminally responsible for killing her son

A Saskatoon woman is not criminally responsible for killing her five-year-old son due to her mental state at the time, according to a Saskatoon judge’s ruling Tuesday afternoon.

In January 2014, Kellie Johnson slashed her son’s throat. That fact was never in dispute during her first-degree murder trial. Justice Neil Gabrielson said his decision centred on if Johnson was capable of knowing her actions were wrong.

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Experts testified that Johnson was suffering from hallucinations when she killed her son. Johnson had told them a “woman” threatened to kill her and set off a chain reaction that would eventually send her son to hell.

In his decision, Gabrielson wrote he was satisfied that Johnson “believed she was doing the only thing which could save him from internal damnation.”

“I am satisfied she was suffering from a mental disorder that rendered her incapable of knowing that her actions were wrong.”

Johnson’s defence lawyer Leslie Sullivan told reporters after the judgement that her client has “been just very, very anxious about this so I believe she’s very relieved.”

“Part of it is that she’s now been in the forensic hospital almost all of the time since the offence date, so it’s her home,” Sullivan said.

“This is certainly the best for her and I would also say the best for the public, because she’s going to get the treatment she needs and we don’t know when she’ll come out the other end.”

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Johnson will remain in North Battleford’s Saskatchewan Hospital and undergo an assessment by the Saskatchewan Review Board. They will eventually decide if and when she’s no longer a threat to the general public.

“Ms. Johnson would be evaluated by the board, there’s representatives from the therapeutic community, there’s representatives from the bar, a judge,” Crown prosecutor Brian Hendrickson said to reporters after the judgement.

Hendrickson added that there’s no timetable when it comes to the board’s final ruling.

“It may be the situation that the status never changes,” he said.