In his post-arrest interview with police, Thomas Chan said he thought his father was “the devil” and “was never there” for him as the Crown wrapped up its case in the murder trial for the Peterborough man on Wednesday.
WATCH: Thomas Chan’s full interview with Det. Const. Jo-Anne Elliott on Dec. 28, 2015
In the early morning hours of Dec. 28, 2015, police discovered Dr. Andrew Chan, 50, dead inside his Haggis Drive home. Dr. Chan’s partner, Lynne Witteveen, was found with multiple stab wounds which resulted in permanent injuries, including the loss of an eye.
Chan, then 18, was arrested at the scene and charged with second-degree murder and attempted murder. He was released on bail in April 2016 and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In evidence heard last week, several individuals said they and Chan had consumed alcohol and magic mushrooms prior to the attacks.
In Superior Court on Wednesday, the Crown presented Chan’s video interview with police involving Det. Cst. Jo-Anne Elliott, which took place later Dec. 28.
LISTEN: Audio of Thomas Chan talking to police while being transported to hospital
She first asks if he recalls the events at Dr. Chan’s house. On Monday, Witteveen testified Chan stabbed his father in the kitchen before attacking her there and in a bedroom.
“I don’t know,” Chan said several times. “I remember being afraid of the dark. And the devil.”
Elliott also inquired about the alleged attack on Witteveen, whom he must have known for his whole life.
“I love Lynn, too,” Chan responded.
“Did you mean to hurt Lynn?” Elliott asked.
“No. I don’t know,” Chan said. “I don’t know if I meant to hurt any of them.”
Chan told Elliott he “blocked out everything” after his dad approached him but remembers being threatened.
“I thought he was the devil, and everyone was being taken over by the devil.”
Chan says he just “wanted to feel safe” but doesn’t recall Witteveen entering the kitchen and can only recall her speaking “jibberish.”
“All I know is I see her face, and it was black hair, black eyes… devilish,” he said.
Elliott then discusses the layout of the house.
“Was it in the bedroom?” Chan asked as he placed his face in his hands.
“What do you remember about that?” Elliott asked
“I don’t. I don’t,” Chan replied. “And I’m being serious. I wouldn’t have gone after her for no reason.”
Chan again described a vision of Witteveen appearing devilish.
“I just remember faces and acting on instinct,” he said. “Or at least what I thought was instinct.”
He then asked Elliott what will happen next, and what will happen if he wasn’t “in his right mind.”
“I want people to know this isn’t me,” he said. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know how it really went down. It could have been anyone.”
When asked what he meant, Chan said he recalls feeling threatened by everyone around him.
Chan then asks if Witteveen is going to be OK and begins to cry, asking if he will ever be forgiven.
”I killed Dad,” he says, crying.
Elliott asks Chan to recall events leading up to the Haggis Drive incident, which included a family shopping outing on Boxing Day. Chan said on the night of the incident he and some friends had a few drinks, went to a restaurant and then returned to his house to consume magic mushrooms.
He told Elliott he began to “meditate and then hallucinate” and that he had previously done mushrooms, but had never had hallucinations like that before.
Chan added he has no memory of getting into a police cruiser but recalls arriving at the police station.
“When I got here, everything was light. I thought I was in heaven,” he said. “I literally …. Was music playing when I got here?” he asked, adding that it sounded like a choir was singing when he arrived.
“I just wanted to get out of the car, because I thought I had escaped from the devil.”
Chan again says he remembers just “faces and flashes” and the perception that people were turning against him. He says again that he wasn’t in his right mind.
Elliott asks him if he remembers leaving his mom’s home on Denure Drive and heading to his dad’s home. He says he remembers his mother and sister’s faces changing in front of him.
Chan said he did not head over to Haggis Drive to hurt his father.
“I would never do that,” he said,. “I would have set out to my Dad’s to be safe.”
Chan says he blames his hallucinations for what happened – claiming faces grew fatter in front of him as their hair and eyes darkened. He used the words, “devil,” and “devilish.”
“I didn’t feel any of this,” he said as the video shows him extending his hands toward Elliott to show what appear to be several cuts.
“I would never, I would never,” he says, again referring to attacks.
“I literally went there for comfort reasons and I killed …” he says as his voice trails off and he starts to cry.
Elliott asks Chan what he would say to his dad if he was there: “I love you. I love you so much. I would never do anything to hurt you.”
“I always just wanted to make him proud because he was never there,” Chan continues, adding his father only started showing support when he became a senior doctor.
“I never had that father figure growing up.”
Chan said he would tell Witteveen that he loved her, too.
“I hope you get a chance to say that to her,” Elliott said as the interview concluded.
The defence did not cross-examine. The trial will resume on Oct. 2 when the defence presents its case.
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