Psychiatric assessment ordered for man accused of killing girlfriend in Alberta

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – An Edmonton man who admitted in court he killed his former girlfriend, slashed an undercover police officer and stabbed a fellow jail inmate because he was being threatened by serial killers will undergo a psychiatric assessment.

Judge Dev Dley of the B.C. Supreme Court ordered the assessment for Mark Lindsay, who is on trial in Kamloops for assaulting the undercover police officer in B.C.

Lindsay is also charged with second-degree murder in the killing of 31-year-old Dana Turner last year and with assault for stabbing a prisoner in the eye during a game of Scrabble at a B.C. jail.

On Wednesday, Lindsay told the court he killed Turner because he believed she was a serial killer and his life was in danger.

He testified a group of serial killers was after him over false allegations that he sexually assaulted one of their friends and they spoke to him in person, on his cell phone and by psychic means.

Lindsay said he killed Turner in a panic before dumping her body, which was found last October in a field near Innisfail, Alta.

His lawyer, Don Campbell, said Thursday the judge ordered the assessment to help determine if Lindsay is not criminally responsible for his actions because of a mental disorder.

“There were explanations that obviously the judge, in his opinion, felt were capable of raising a concern – a report of a conspiracy that had been going on for a number of years that involved serial killers chasing Mr. Lindsay, a number of phone calls that were threatening, psychic communication that raised some concern,” he said.

The 30-day psychiatric assessment will be conducted in Metro Vancouver.

However, Campbell said Lindsay will appear in court next week on the assault charge involving another prisoner at the Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre last fall.

Lindsay is the son of former Edmonton Police chief John Lindsay.