A Hamilton, Ont man has been found not criminally responsible for the 2022 stabbing death of a noted Niagara winemaker.
The trial of Bradley House, accused of second-degree murder in the killing of award-winning winemaker Paul Pender at a cottage, came to an end with the verdict from Superior Court Judge Michael Bordin on Wednesday.
Bordin said House was not criminally responsible on account of “mental disorder” when he attacked and chased Pender out the door of his cottage and down a street before stabbing him in a driveway.
The judge pointed to House’s history of mental disorder, revealed during the trial, which suggested a belief he was constantly being “followed” and “seeing spirits.”
He asserted the Crown did not establish their claim that House was responsible for taking the drugs that made him psychotic that day.
Two psychological experts who testified during the trial connected House with an inability to determine his actions were “morally wrong” when he stabbed Pender, according to Bordin.
Following the decision, House’s defence attorney Beth Bromberg believed the deciding factor was “ultimately the fact” his psychosis and delusions happened before ever beginning to use drugs.
She went on to say House is “very remorseful” and “still shocked” by the incident.
“He wants to get the help he needs, but he’s a man of few words,” Bromberg said out front of the Cayuga courthouse.
“It’s clear that he’s still shocked by what happened and is still extremely remorseful and devastated by the whole thing.”
House, an Indigenous man, is now expected to be remanded to a St. Joseph’s psychiatric facility in Hamilton, with an Ontario Review Board to determine next steps in terms of his freedom.
During the trial, the court learned the incident happened on Smelsers Cove Lane in Selkirk, Ont. Feb. 3, 2022 with House leaving a nearby home renovation site during a snowstorm before entering a Pender family residence.
In an agreed statement of facts, the accused believed he had a stick in his ear and picked up a kitchen knife inside the Pender home to attempt to dig it out.
Pender was stabbed and fled for his life after an attempt to aid House with a pair of tweezers to remove the nonexistent stick.
The head winemaker at Tawse Winery in Vineland was 54-years-old at the time of his death.
According to his website, Pender was also a former carpenter and graduate of Niagara College’s winery and viticulture program.
He leaves behind wife Allison Findlay and three children.
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