A Wallaceburg senior previously accused of murdering his wife has been found not criminally responsible for her death.
Superior Court Justice Maria Carroccia found the 95-year-old man not guilty after accepting the recommendations of medical experts. The man can't be named to protect the victim's identity.
He was charged with second degree murder by Chatham-Kent police after officers found his 89-year-old wife without vital signs at an apartment on Margaret Avenue in Wallaceburg on December 26, 2020. A fitness hearing at the Chatham Superior Court on Tuesday afternoon revealed the accused strangled his wife in bed.
In a joint statement from the defence and the prosecution, the court heard the senior had a hard fall a few years ago when he suffered a head injury, and became agitated and aggressive.
The elderly man underwent mental health assessments by two psychiatrists over the past year, including Dr. Jason Quinn of the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care in St. Thomas to determine if he was fit to stand trial, if he bears any criminal responsibility for the crime, or if he has a mental disorder that would exempt him from responsibility.
Dr. Quinn testified by video that he believes the accused has schizophrenia and hallucinations, shows symptoms of psychosis, has delusional beliefs that he is being persecuted by demons, and is depressed. Quinn said the senior's major mental disorder started 10 years ago and he was hospitalized twice — in 2011 and 2019.
Quinn said the senior is fit to stand trial but said the man’s mental fitness will gradually decline with time. The doctor also said the accused knew it was wrong to murder but at the time lacked the rationale that it was wrong.
The senior will now be released from the jail in Windsor to the psychiatric hospital in St. Thomas where he will wait for a risk assessment from the Ontario Review Board. The Ontario Review Board annually reviews the status of every person who has been found to be not criminally responsible or unfit to stand trial for criminal offences on account of a mental disorder.
The victim's granddaughter read an emotional victim impact statement and said she has waited over a year to hear the reasons for the murder. She said the loss of her grandmother has been very difficult and she has lost one of the most important and influential women in her life.
"I myself suffered weeks of sleepless nights and nightmares. I had to take a leave from my workplace in order to cope. I imagined my grandmother would one day pass but never thought she would be so brutally stolen from our lives," she said. "Today I'm here to tell you that forgiveness is a great strength and I will somehow find it my heart to forgive you for the sake of my grandmother and my own peace."