Nanaimo man found not criminally responsible for woman's murder
A Vancouver Island man who pleaded guilty to stabbing a stranger to death outside his grandparents' home in Nanaimo, B.C., has been found not criminally responsible for the woman's murder due to a mental disorder.
Simon James Baker, then 21 years old, attacked 41-year-old Denise Allick in 2022, fatally stabbing her six times in the face, neck and shoulder.
On Wednesday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Douglas Thompson found "that in the moments when Mr. Baker stabbed Ms. Allick, he was incapable of rationally considering whether his conduct in the particular circumstances would have been morally condemned by reasonable members of society."
The court heard that Baker was watching television with his grandparents on June 20, 2022, and planned to visit a friend's house later that night. At approximately 10:10 p.m., he told his grandmother he was going outside for a cigarette, and she responded that she would take him to his friend's house when he was ready to go.
One or two minutes later, the grandmother heard a woman screaming outside the home. She opened the door to find Allick bleeding on the ground and Baker standing nearby, saying "this chick was attacking me," the judge wrote in his decision published online Friday.
Baker, uninjured, went inside and told his grandfather, who was partially deaf, that there was a woman covered in blood outside.
Allick was still breathing when the grandmother called 911, but died during the six-minute call, according to the judge. A stab wound to her neck had severed her left carotid artery, causing her death, the court heard.
'IS THAT WOMAN ALRIGHT?'
While his grandmother was on the phone with the 911 operator, Baker called a taxi and asked to be picked up at a nearby school. He was picked up at 10:25 p.m. and the taxi took him back to his grandparents' home, where he was arrested by Mounties around 10:36 p.m.
Police found a knife in the pocket of Baker's hooded sweater, and he told police that he was an opiate addict and had taken a small amount of drugs an hour earlier but was starting to experience withdrawal symptoms.
"Is that woman alright?" Baker asked police while being transported to the Nanaimo RCMP detachment. At the police station, when he was told a second time that he was under arrest for murder, he replied: "So she's not alright," the court heard.
While his grandmother was on the phone with the 911 operator, Simon Baker called a taxi and asked to be picked up at a nearby school. The taxi took him to his grandparents' home, where he was arrested by Mounties. (CTV News)
The judge said it remains unclear why Allick was at the house that night.
"There is no evidence that Mr. Baker knew Ms. Allick, and no evidence that reveals why she was on Mr. Baker's grandparents' property," he said.
The Victoria woman had been drinking with a friend at a Nanaimo home when they left to go to a liquor store a couple blocks from Baker's grandparents' house around 9 p.m.
After leaving the liquor store, Allick went next door to a gas station to buy cigarettes, where she bumped into the 11-year-old child of her friend's former partner, the court heard.
"Ms. Allick yelled at and grabbed the child," the judge said. "After this altercation, Ms. Allick's friend walked home and Ms. Allick left in her car. The car was ultimately located on 8th Street, parked in the same block as Mr. Baker's grandparents' home."
DEMONIC POSSESSION AND DRUG USE
Two forensic psychiatrists testified that Baker was experiencing schizophrenia, compounded by very serious substance-use disorders at the time of the murder. Baker had been undergoing treatment with an antipsychotic medication and was nearly due for his monthly injection, said the judge.
Baker had his first mental health assessment in December 2017, when he was 17 years old.
He told doctors he was experiencing delusions and hallucinations of people breaking into his home. He was hospitalized for weeks in which he "persistently held onto the ideas that he was attacked in the emergency room by being hit on the knee with a baseball bat, and that his mother was raped in the emergency room," according to the judge.
He was prescribed monthly injections of the anti-psychotic medication Abilify (aripiprazole) in 2018, however he continued to experience intermittent psychotic episodes over the coming years, including at least two in which he brandished knives.
During an interview with police two days after the murder, Baker's mother told investigators her son had been "paranoid, delusional and very concerned about trespassing on his property" for several months.
She also said her son believed he was possessed by a demon at his grandparents' house, and she described his drug use escalating from alcohol and marijuana as a teenager to cocaine and eventually fentanyl.
"It is clear from interactions with the police and hospital staff, and the accounts of his family, that in the months leading up to the event he was intermittently psychotic with prominent paranoia. For several years he harboured beliefs that he would be attacked in his home," the judge said.
"I think it is likely true that this terrible event unfolded within seconds. I find that Mr. Baker reacted on impulse rooted in paranoia when he stabbed Ms. Allick, with little or no opportunity for rational consideration."
The judge ordered that Baker be held in custody at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam, B.C., pending a disposition by the provincial review board.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Iran President Ebrahim Raisi still missing after helicopter accident in mountains
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other officials apparently crashed in the mountainous northwest reaches of Iran on Sunday, sparking a massive rescue operation in a fog-shrouded forest as the public was urged to pray.
What do we know so far about the mysterious crash of the helicopter carrying Iran's president?
The apparent crash of a helicopter carrying Iran's president and foreign minister on Sunday sent shock waves around the region.
'A horrible way to start the summer': 3 killed in serious boat crash on lake north of Kingston, Ont.
Three people were killed and five others were injured Saturday night following a boat crash on the Buck Bay area of Bobs Lake, north of Kingston, Ont., the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said.
Walmart, Costco refusing to sign grocery code of conduct 'untenable': industry minister
Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says it's 'untenable' for 'smaller players' like Walmart and Costco to delay signing on to the government- and industry-led grocery code of conduct, now that industry giant Loblaw has agreed to do so.
Ottawa driver who appeared to be racing another vehicle on Highway 416 facing charges
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says an Ottawa driver is facing charges after being caught going 187 km/h on Highway 416.
Ex-partner charged with first-degree murder after 55-year-old woman killed in Montreal
Less than 24 hours after Montreal's 12th homicide investigation began, Montreal police confirmed that a 55-year-old woman's death in St. Michel is the island's 13th homicide. The woman's ex-spouse has been charged with first-degree murder.
VIDEO Born without front legs, this dog has been inspiring the world for 3 years: Dresden farm owner
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
Canadian immigration asks medical worker fleeing Gaza if he treated Hamas fighters
Lawyers are questioning Canada’s approach to screening visa applications for people in Gaza with extended family in Canada after one applicant, a medical worker, was asked whether he had treated members of Hamas.
Diddy admits beating ex-girlfriend Cassie, says he's sorry, calls his actions 'inexcusable'
Sean 'Diddy' Combs admitted Sunday that he beat his ex-girlfriend in a hotel hallway in 2016 after CNN released video of the attack, saying in a video apology he was 'truly sorry' and his actions were 'inexcusable.'