The lawyer for a man accused of murdering a popular Vancouver park caretaker says the Crown has failed to prove his client intended to kill the senior.
Brent White, 54, has pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder of Justis Daniel. The 77-year-old was found dead with more than 40 stab wounds in his caretaker home in Tatlow Park on Dec. 10, 2021.
The case hinges on the question of whether the killing was self-defence or murder.
Making his closing arguments on Monday, defence lawyer Brent Anderson said the court has heard no motive nor any evidence about what triggered the deadly altercation, and that this client had no reason to harm Daniel.
White took the stand in his own defence earlier in the trial, testifying that Daniel had bitten him on the neck like a vampire and likely consumed his blood. He also testified that Daniel threw a knife in his face and called him the equivalent of Satan.
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He told the court he had feared for his life and defended himself.
On Monday, Anderson said his client had made no effort to cover his tracks. White was arrested three months after the killing, and police found a knife and shoes with Daniel’s blood on them in his van.
“There is no rational basis, whatsoever, for Mr. White to lie about his belief at all. I would submit that no sane person would fabricate an account as bizarre as this and expect it to be believed,” Anderson told the court.
“The only reasonable conclusion is that Mr. White genuinely believed that’s exactly what happened.”
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Miriam Maisonville has not ordered a mental assessment to determine whether White is not criminally responsible by way of a mental disorder.
Neither the Crown nor defence has called any psychiatric evidence either, and White has explicitly opted not to pursue a mental illness defence.
Despite this, his lawyer told the court there was “a large and compelling body of evidence which points to Mr. White having an impaired mental state at time,” including paranoid beliefs and delusional thinking.
Friends of Daniel who attended the trial have described the caretaker as loving, kind and outgoing and have described the claims he attacked White as outlandish and out of character.
The Crown is scheduled to make its closing statements on Tuesday.
— with files from Rumina Daya
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