Forensic psychiatrists offer duelling opinions at Starbucks stabbing trial

The fate of a man accused of stabbing another man to death outside a downtown Vancouver Starbucks may come down to the duelling opinions of psychiatrists.

The fate of Inderdeep Singh Gosal, accused of stabbing a man to death during a fight outside a downtown Vancouver Starbucks, may come down to the differing opinions of a pair of forensic psychiatrists.

The court has already heard testimony from Dr. Johann Brink, called as an expert by the defence.

Brink told the court Gosal suffers from schizophrenia and experienced delusions, psychosis and a constant fear of impending doom.

On Tuesday, the Crown called Dr. Rakesh Lamba as a rebuttal witness.

On the afternoon of March 26, 2023, Gosal was on the patio of the Starbucks at Granville and West Pender streets smoking a cigar, which he acknowledges possibly contained marijuana.

Security video from the scene shows Gosal engaging in a verbal altercation with someone off the patio and out of the video frame.

Moments later Paul Schmidt, who was at the café with his partner and their young daughter, entered the patio and began fighting with Gosal.

Schmidt would die after being stabbed six times in the neck, chest and abdomen.

Gosal does not deny killing Schmidt.

His lawyers argue he feared for his safety – and that his mental illness was a factor in how he reacted during the confrontation.

They are asking the judge for a finding of manslaughter rather than the second-degree murder charge Gosal faces.

Lamba also diagnosed Gosal as schizophrenic, saying he has a moderate form of the mental illness.

But he says multiple inconsistencies in Gosal’s statements to police and medical professionals need to be carefully considered by the court.

“That inconsistency brings into question what the person is saying and why the person is saying that,” Lamba testified. “What, if any, may be the purpose of motive for the person to say that.”

Lamba noted medical records noted no serious delusions or hallucinations by Gosal for a period of years prior to the Starbucks incident.

He said in his opinion, Gosal had cognitive function the day of the stabbing and ought to have known the wrongfulness of his actions.

Lamba returns to the stand for cross-examination by Gosal’s legal team on Wednesday, the last day scheduled for testimony in the trial.

Closing arguments are set for the first week of May.

It will then be up to B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Ker to decide whether the Crown or defence, and their respective witnesses, has made the more compelling argument about Gosal’s mental state at the time of the killing, and whether he was aware of his actions.