B.C. trial begins for Chinatown festival triple stabbing suspect

Blair Donnelly, charged with three counts of aggravated assault, admits he stabbed the victims but his lawyer will argue he was not criminally responsible.

The trial for a psychiatric patient charged with stabbing three attendees of the Light Up Chinatown Festival in Vancouver in 2023 began on Monday with the suspect pleading not guilty.

Blair Evan Donnelly entered the courtroom carrying a copy of the bible and wearing standard-issue sweatpants and sweatshirt, thick glasses, and plastic orange sandals.

His lawyer and the crown prosecutor agreed that Donnelly admitted to stabbing the three people – one in the arm and two in the back – on Sept. 10, 2023, and the court proceedings will now focus on whether he was criminally responsible for his actions on that day.

The statement of facts submitted to Justice Eric Gottardi included a surveillance video at Home Depot, where Donnelly purchased a wood chisel while on an unescorted day pass from the Colony Farm psychiatric hospital.

Surveillance video from the Braid Street SkyTrain Station shows Donnelly, wearing a reflective vest and black bike helmet, disembarking from his bicycle. The crown prosecutor told the court he then arrived at the Chinatown SkyTrain station, cycling to Chinatown. He locked his bike at 3:42 p.m. and then attended the festival, said crown.

Crown then presented several video exhibits from event videographers around the festival stage, located at Columbia Street and Keefer Street, showing Donnelly in the area.

At 5:54 p.m., Crown says Donnelly stabbed a woman in her 20s in the upper back with a chisel, then a woman in her 60s in the same area, then the senior’s husband, who tried pushing him away and was stabbed in the arm and fell, hurting his knee.

The court heard that Donnelly didn’t speak to his alleged victims before, during, or after the incident.

The prosecutor then presented another video exhibit showing Donnelly in the Downtown East Side, where two Vancouver police officers arrested him. One of the officers described him as being “discombobulated” and sweating profusely, according to the statement of facts.

One of the officers asked if he understood why he was being arrested and he nodded, and then asked if he wanted a lawyer, which he declined.

The trial could end as early as next week, with a judge alone hearing the case.