Mental health to be focus of murder trial

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This article was published 27/03/2017 (2580 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The mental state of a man who told 911 dispatchers he killed his wife is the key issue in a Winnipeg homicide case that has stretched on for more than five years.

Teklu Tesfamichael Mebrahtu’s long-delayed second-degree murder trial began this week after his defence team agreed he was fit to stand trial. Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg will hear the evidence before she decides whether to throw out the murder case because of what the defence argues were excessive delays in bringing the case to trial.

While there is no question Mebrahtu caused the death of his wife, 34-year-old Alche Fsehaye Kidane, defence lawyers Wendy Martin White and Jody Ostapiw are arguing his mental-health issues mean he could not have had the criminal intent necessary to be found guilty of murder. They have asked for a not criminally responsible assessment to determine his mental state at the time of the homicide in January 2012.

Kidane was found dead in the bathtub of the couple’s home on Assiniboine Avenue on the night of Jan. 23, 2012. The couple had moved to Canada from Africa less than six months earlier.

Court heard from the first two Crown witnesses Tuesday — police officers who responded to Mebrahtu’s 911 call, which was played in court.

During the call, Mebrahtu, whose first language is Tigrinya, tells dispatchers in broken English that he killed his wife and that he hurt her with a knife. Despite repeated questions from the dispatcher, he seemed unable to offer an explanation.

“Why did you do this, sir?” the dispatcher asked in the recording of the call, during which language difficulties were apparent.

“I don’t know. I don’t understand,” he replied.

Winnipeg Police Service Const. Ryan Naismith and his partner were first to arrive at the couple’s apartment building. He testified Tuesday Mebrahtu presented police with a bloody knife after the officers knocked on his door.

Naismith found Kidane dead in the bathtub, fully clothed. Before police arrived, the bathroom light had been turned off and the shower curtain completely drawn, with folded towels draped over the curtain rod.

Mebrahtu was compliant with police officers who placed him under arrest, but he was sluggish and didn’t appear to understand what was happening, Naismith testified.

“It’s almost that he didn’t hear half of what we were saying, that his mind was elsewhere,” he said.

Crown attorneys Kyle Parker and Daniel Chaput are expected to close their case Wednesday. The trial is scheduled to continue with defence evidence and wrap up in mid-April.

Meanwhile, the defence team has brought forward a delay motion, arguing the judge should enter a stay of proceedings because the case stretched on for about 62 months — believed to be one of the longest criminal-case delays in Manitoba.

“This gentleman had been in Canada less than six months at the time of this offence and is subject to deportation even if you enter a stay, frankly,” Ostapiw told the judge while arguing in favour of the delay motion.

“He spent over five years in custody since his arrest and has been committed (as a mental-health patient), subjected to electric shock therapy, had a seizure, had additional charges laid against him from an altercation with a cellmate and has had the steady eradication of his mind and his ability to defend himself,” she said.

The case was initially set to go to trial in May 2015, but it was delayed when questions were raised about Mebrahtu’s mental health and whether he would be fit to stand trial.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay