The man accused of stabbing three people in Chinatown two years ago has been found not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder.
Blair Donnelly, 66, pleaded not guilty to three counts of aggravated assault after he admitted to the stabbings at the Light Up Chinatown festival in 2023, while he was on unescorted leave from the B.C. Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam.
Two women were stabbed in the back and one man was stabbed in the arm.
Donnelly has been diagnosed with diagnosed with bipolar disorder atypical typeand his lawyer argued that Donnelly’s mental illness “rendered him incapable of knowing if his actions were wrong.”
Justice Eric Gottardi said at the ruling on Friday that to meet the requirements to be declared not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder, a person must be suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the incident and prove that their suffering from a mental disorder rendered them incapable of knowing right from wrong.
“We don’t convict people of crimes for being sick,” Gottardi said.
He said he found Donnelly to be a credible witness who genuinely attempted to give truthful evidence but had concerns with his reliability due to memory problems.
The judge-only trial heard that Donnelly “met Christ” at age 22, which he described as a born-again experience that turned him away from a life of drugs and partying and towards marriage and fatherhood.
That same belief, however, later drove him to violence, the court heard.
‘I was prompted by God to hurt somebody’
Donnelly testified he’d left the facility on an e-bike intending to go to a Coquitlam coffee shop on the day of the attack, but changed his mind because of “a belief I was being prompted by God to go to Chinatown.”
He proceeded to Home Depot, where the Crown has said Donnelly bought a chisel used in the stabbing attack.
“I went there to get some type of instrument I needed something to hurt somebody with,” Donnelly testified.
“I believe I was prompted by God to hurt somebody that day.”
He told the court he believes God helped him pick out the chisel, which was “compact, wasn’t too abrasive to really cut somebody.”
He then proceeded to the Braid SkyTrain station, where he took transit to Chinatown.
The court heard Donnelly wandered among the crowd at the festival, and believed that if he hurt someone that “the Chinese authorities” would come and arrest him.
“I approached the three individuals that I hurt, stabbed two of them, attempted to stab the third person. The third person maneuvered himself away from me and fell,” he said.
He added that he had no animosity towards Chinese people, and that he stabbed each person only once because he wanted to hurt them, but not kill them.
Donnelly has previously been found not criminally responsible for stabbing his daughter to death in 2006, and for a 2017 attack on another psychiatric patient with a butter knife.
The matter has now been referred to the Review Board, which should hold a hearing within 90 days.
In the meantime, Donnelly is to be held at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital and Gottardi told the public that Donnelly will not be back on the streets.
“It must be remembered that Mr. Donnelly…. will be detained and subject to the Review Board process,” he added.
-with files from The Canadian Press