Closing arguments made in trial of Sask. man who stabbed girlfriend to death

WATCH: Closing arguments were made in the second-degree murder trial of a man accused of killing his girlfriend.

The question of whether Thomas Hamp is criminally responsible for stabbing and killing Emily Sanche on Feb. 20, 2022 is now up to a Court of King’s Bench judge after final arguments were made in second-degree murder trial Wednesday.

“The only explanation that makes any sense whatsoever, is that only a clinical delusional person...would want to harm someone as kind, compassionate, insightful as Emily Sanche,” defence attorney Brian Pfefferle told the court during his closing remarks.

“The entire defense argument rises or falls on whether he knew it was wrong,” Crown prosecutor Cory Bliss said.

Hamp admits to killing Sanche, but the dispute between Pfefferle and Bliss is whether Hamp is criminally responsible for his actions. Pfefferle is arguing he was suffering from a mental health disorder.

The trial began last September, but was adjourned until this week so an expert witness could be called to testify after it was revealed letters Hamp wrote from jail were handed over to police. This new evidence meant Dr. Shabehram Lohrasbe needed to review his assessment before testifying, which became a central argument for Bliss this week.

Hamp said he was experiencing a number of delusions prior to stabbing Sanche and himself to save them from being tortured or killed. He believed he was surrounded by pedophiles, that close friends were conspiring against him to frame him as a pedophile, that he was the target of a secret police and that his medication would brainwash him and chemically castrate him. He also feared certain forms of technology and was obsessed with the video game Tetris because he believed it was a test and spying device of the secret police.

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The Crown prosecutor challenged Lohrasbe’s assessment and Hamp’s version of events by exploring the idea of malingering — when someone tries to fake a mental illness to avoid criminal responsibility.

Bliss wondered if Hamp didn’t kill himself because he never intended to and only stabbed himself to make it look like an intruder broke in and attacked Sanche.

“From our perspective, it’s very unusual that someone would commit a crime while deluded and then immediately suggest that someone else committed the crime,” Bliss said.

Lohrasbe said stabbing Sanche may have “drained” the delusion.

Bliss asked if Hamp was so fearful of secret police, then how come he didn’t attack first responders called to the scene? Why not the two neighbours who first ran into help?

Bliss also wondered why Sanche, who kept a detailed document of Hamp’s mental health struggles in the weeks prior to the stabbing, wasn’t mentioned in any of her accounts if Hamp believed she was to be tortured and killed.

Lohrasbe also couldn’t say if Hamp was triggered from a diary note from Sanche the day before the attack where she wrote: “mental health warrant needs to be forced to get help.”

Lohrasbe ultimately testified Hamp was “acutely and severely” psychotic when he killed Sanche and his assessment supports a finding of not criminally responsible.

In his closing argument, Bliss said Sanche “was at the end of her rope” and may have confronted Hamp about going to hospital, which may have triggered him.

“If you take all of the things (Lorasbe) testified that were possible, and you add them up one after the other, does that reach essentially a level where the court goes, ‘Given all those possibilities, I don’t know if I can place much weight in in this, conclusion?’” Bliss said.

Pfefferle said this nonsensical crime can only be make sense if Hamp was delusional.

“This is a person who had absolutely no record or history of violence. His delusions were getting more and more bizarre,” Pfefferle said.

Pfefferle said Hamp experienced an escalation of delusions and he could have experienced delusions that weren’t documented by Sanche.

“Yeah. I mean, I will admit, when I first received this file, those sorts of things concerned me. I’m comforted by the fact that the leading expert in Canada on this issue was not concerned by it,” Pfefferle said.

Bliss also argued Hamp was in a drug-induced psychosis when he killed Sanche. On Tuesday, Lorasbe described the impact of highly potent cannabis on one’s health and that symptoms from a drug-induced psychosis could appear as mental health disorders.

“I think there is a real concern for the public that people that choose to take psychoactive drugs, and they lose touch with reality because of it,” Bliss said. “Those people should be responsible for their crimes.”

Pfefferle noted there was a diary entry on Feb. 20, the day Sanche was stabbed at 2:30 a.m., that had nothing written below it.

“We don’t need Emily’s words to say what happened,” Pfefferle said to the court. “We know what happened, and I respectfully suggest we know why it happened.”

Justice Grant Currie has reserved his decision for July 3.