While the scars have faded, the trauma left behind by an unprovoked stabbing of a police officer in Kelowna continues to impact all of those involved.
Richard McCrae, a man who has struggled with auditory hallucinations, schizophrenia and bouts of psychosis for much of his adult life, has admitted to stabbing Const. Jason Tymofichuk on March 26, 2022. Now, the court must decide whether or not he is criminally responsible for his actions.
Closing submissions were heard in Kelowna Supreme Court on May 8, as McCrae's defence counsel and Crown counsel laid out the evidence in support of their point, as to whether or not the man who is charged with attempted murder, weapons possession, obstruction of a peace officer, and assault, ought to be held criminally responsible for his actions.
On one of the final days of the trial, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Johann Brink told the court that McCrae did not remember the incident, and likely did not have control of his actions during the attack. In addition to a diagnosis of schizophrenia – which alone can cause psychosis and upsetting auditory hallucinations – McCrae had also taken methamphetamine on the day of the attack. McCrae took methamphetamine with relative, regularity, and alleges that the drug helped him to focus, despite the voices he constantly battles.
While McCrae's mental illness had been treated with regular injections of anti-psychotics for years, Dr. Brink told the court that he does not believe McCrae's symptoms, namely the auditory hallucinations he experiences, were ever well controlled.
McCrae refers to the auditory hallucinations that he has battled every day since his teenage years as 'demonic voices.'
Dr. Brink told the court that on the day of the assault, "The demons won."
McCrae had been living at Kelowna's Gospel Mission Shelter, located at Bay Avenue and Ellis Street, for a few years without issue, at the time of the incident.
"He would come down for coffee in the morning, always polite, always talking to someone in his mind," said Gospel Mission staff worker Susan Racicot while on the stand as a witness earlier in the trial. "He was always zipping by, going out on his skateboard to get away from the building during the day."
Racicot said that at night, McCrae's neighbours would complain that he could be heard speaking loudly to the voices in his mind when in his room, but he was never aggressive to others.
"In his room, he felt safe to talk and deal with what he was dealing with."
On the day of the attack, Racicot said a woman had set up a tent in front of the shelter and as it is against the site's rules, had been asked to move.
Racicot said that McCrae had been protective of the woman, and roared loudly when told the tent had to be removed from the premises.
The roar appears to be the first indication that the large man, who was otherwise described as being respectful, quiet and easy to deal with, had been experiencing psychological distress in excess of his baseline auditory hallucinations.
Shelter staff then called the police to request assistance in removing the woman and the tent, as McCrae had become "elevated."
Const. Jason Tymofichuk attended the scene, spoke with McCrae and explained that the tent had to be removed. He remembers the conversation as being calm and did not feel threatened by McCrae.
Const. Tymofichuk then told McCrae that he was going to look inside the tent, as he wanted to make sure the woman who was sheltering in the tent was alright, and McCrae agreed.
The officer then took a step towards the tent and McCrae kicked him in the stomach and delivered a hard blow to the side of his face, that knocked him to the ground. The altercation was recorded on the shelter's security cameras.
It was then that Const. Tymofichuk realized he had been stabbed in the eye socket, and pressed his emergency alert button to call for backup, warning the responding officers that McCrae had a knife.
McCrae then jumped on top of the police officer and delivered additional blows to his face. In response, Const. Tymofichuk fired his pistol, as he believed McCrae intended to kill him.
No one was injured by the shot and McCrae then became focused on taking the gun from Const. Tymofichuk, and could be heard saying, "Please give me your gun."
Tymofichuk, who was holding onto the pistol with all his might, had wrapped his leg wrapped around the weapon and then was completely lifted off the ground by McCrae who had grabbed the gun and was trying to pull it away from the officer. McCrae slammed Tymofichuk back down onto the ground.
Two Ellis Street Shelter residents ran over to help, yelling at McCrae to stop. The distraction caused McCrae to briefly release his grasp of the pistol and Const. Tymofichuk, whose vision was starting to blur from his wound, got to his feet. The men who intervened testified earlier in the trial and were tearful when describing the bloody and violent scene.
Once on his feet, Const. Tymofichuk pointed his gun and told McCrae to drop the knife. Instead, McCrae used the knife to slit his own throat, creating a deep wound. Tymofichuk then attempted to use his taser on McCrae but it was ineffective and McCrae began to walk away.
Supporting officers arrived moments later and used tasers to bring McCrae to the ground, where he was apprehended.
Both Tymofichuk and McCrae were immediately taken to the hospital for care. Const. Tymofichuk had been stabbed just above his eyeball, requiring emergent and extensive medical care to save his eye and preserve his vision.
While Tymofichuk's vision was saved, the incident left him with nerve damage, a large scar over his eye, anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
McCrae has absolutely no memory of the attack that nearly killed Const. Jason Tymofichuk, nor does he remember the roar that scared the shelter's staff. McCrae said that he only regained consciousness when the two men intervened and yelled at him to stop. McCrae said that during the period of blacking out, he was possessed by the demons that he heard in his mind.
"It is like having another person in your head."
"When I get emotional, the demons take over," said McCrae to Dr. Brink in an interview ahead of the trial. "The cop is a kind person, there was no reason to attack him other than the demons."
He said that he remembers the voices – which he refers to as demons –had told him to stab the police officer, kill himself, and kill God.
McCrae said that after regaining consciousness, he was immediately horrified by what he had done, which is why he slit his own throat.
McCrae described feeling guilty and said, "The whole thing should not have happened."
In Dr. Brink's expert opinion, McCrae was experiencing acute psychosis at the time of the assault and was therefore unable to determine right from wrong.
In closing submissions, McCrae's defence counsel Donna Turko told the court that the accused should be found not criminally responsible for stabbing Const. Tymofichuk, as he was suffering from a mental disorder.
Conversely, Crown prosecutor Miho Ogi-Harris submitted that while McCrae does have a profound mental illness, evidence suggests that he was acting in defence of the woman in the tent and had an awareness of his actions. Ogi-Harris said the guilt he felt after stabbing the officer is an example of his awareness of the situation.
She said that the burden to prove that McCrae was incapable of knowing right from wrong rests on defence, and submits that it has not been met. Crown submits that while McCrae was mentally ill, he was not in a state of psychosis that rendered him completely incapable of controlling his actions. As such, Ogi-Harris submits that McCrae should not be exempt from criminal responsibility, and should be prosecuted for his actions.
Court will reconvene on May 26, to fix a date for Justice Wilson's decision regarding criminal responsibility.
