EDITOR’S NOTE: The details in this court case are disturbing.
David Michael Moss, charged in the 2020 death of seven-year-old Bella Rose Desrosiers, was denied a not criminally responsible (NCR) designation Friday and found guilty of second-degree murder.
Desrosiers died from being stabbed inside her family home at 25 Avenue N.W. and 43 Street N.W. in Mill Woods on May 18, 2020.
Moss’ mental state at the time of her death has been of critical importance in the case.
Moss admitted to killing the little girl, but the issue in question is whether or not he had the requisite intent and understanding for murder.
His defence argued Moss should be found not criminally responsible. That request was denied in court Friday.
The defence was seeking a lesser conviction of manslaughter.
During Friday’s decision, the little girl’s mother was crying in court.
Moss sat, looking down at the floor.
The sentencing date has yet to be determined.
Moss and Bella Rose’s mother, Melissa Desrosiers, knew each other in high school, the judge said.
During the trial, Melissa testified she wanted to help Moss after hearing he was mentally unwell. Her own husband had previously taken his own life.
Moss worked as a tattoo artist and gave Melissa a memorial tattoo in honour of her husband 10 months before the attack.
Worried Moss might be suicidal, Melissa hid her knife-block before bringing Moss to her home.
Her plan was to take Moss to the hospital for help after she got her daughters to sleep.
Bella Rose and her sister were being tucked in when Moss came upstairs armed with scissors and started slashing the child.
Prior to Friday’s decision, Moss had told court his tattoo shop closed during the pandemic and the problems in his marriage intensified. He was planning to move out May 3, 2020. Moss said he had an old head injury that triggered seizures, he used drugs, including cannabis and cocaine.
He said he was a conspiracy theorist and struggled with depression, anxiety and sleep issues.
Moss told court he’d been sexually abused and had sexually abused someone. He said he cheated on his wife.
Moss said he was going through some kind of an “awakening,” was hallucinating about seeing fairies, elves and demons.
He said the “physical world was not real; it was like an illusion.”
Moss was admitted to Alberta Hospital.
The defence argued he was not criminally responsible, suffering from psychosis and incapable of knowing what he was doing was wrong. His lawyers argued this was tied to a brain injury he suffered in 2004.
The Crown, however, argued it was a drug-induced psychosis and that Moss could still appreciate the nature of his acts and know they were wrong.
Prosecutors said Moss had seen several psychologists and none noted any psychotic symptoms.
The Police and Crisis Team (PACT) did not find him to be suicidal or a harm to anyone else but thought he was coming off some kind of intoxicant.
While in the hospital, he became progressively less psychotic and required less anti-psychotic medicine.
The majority of the experts who testified believed it was a cannabis-induced psychosis and that Moss knew what he was doing was wrong and would cause harm.
With files from Sarah Ryan, Global News
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