Lawlor told social worker he wanted to hurt gay men, trial hears

Lawlor wanted to hurt gay men: social worker From CTV Kitchener's Nicole Lampa: Health care professionals knew Derrick Lawlor had thoughts of harming gay men, jurors heard Wednesday.

A few weeks before Mark McCreadie was killed, jurors heard Wednesday, the man accused of killing him told a social worker that he had violent thoughts about gay men.

Derrick Lawlor is accused of killing McCreadie, whose body was found in a wooded area on the edge of Victoria Park in Kitchener in April 2014. He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

Among the witnesses who testified Wednesday at Lawlor’s trial was Amy Morton, a social worker who talked to Lawlor twice on March 3, 2014.

Morton testified that she talked to Lawlor that morning about supports for him in the community. She said an afternoon conversation took a darker turn.

“He wanted to harm promiscuous gay men, and (said he) was driving around with a knife and tape in his vehicle,” she said.

Morton said she relayed those claims to other people, including a psychiatrist familiar with Lawlor. She did not call police, and noted in her testimony that Lawlor later said he was no longer having thoughts about harming gay men.

Under cross-examination from Lawlor’s lawyer, Morton was asked a series of questions about who she told about Lawlor’s comments.

Also testifying Wednesday was Dr. David Bitonti, a family doctor who was assigned to Lawlor on March 4, 2014.

Bitonti said Lawlor was specifically asked if he planned to kill himself or somebody else, and responded that he did not. Lawlor was discharged from Grand River Hospital two days later, with Bitonti’s approval.

Although McCreadie was found with a stab wound, his cause of death was determined to have been strangulation. The Crown says he was killed with a scarf or similar object.

With reporting by Nicole Lampa