World News
Gabriel Klein should be found guilty of murder, Crown says in closing arguments
Gabriel Klein’s bizarre behaviour while in custody shows he tried to feign mental illness after stabbing and killing a 13-year-old girl at an Abbotsford high school, a B.C. Crown prosecutor said Tuesday.Gabriel Klein, captured on surveillance video in November 2016, hours before allegedly stabbing two female students at a high school in Abbotsford, B.C. Klein…
Gabriel Klein's bizarre behaviour while in custody shows he tried to feign mental illness after stabbing and killing a 13-year-old girl at an Abbotsford high school, a B.C. Crown prosecutor said Tuesday.
Gabriel Klein's bizarre behaviour while in custody shows he tried to feign mental illness after stabbing and killing a 13-year-old girl at an Abbotsford high school, a B.C. Crown prosecutor said Tuesday.
During the second day of his closing arguments in a New Westminster courtroom, prosecutor Rob Macgowan told court Klein's actions the day of the attack were deliberate.
He said there is no reason to believe Klein was unaware of the consequences, and that he should be found guilty of murder.
Klein admitted to stabbing 13-year-old Letisha Reimer but his lawyer is arguing he be found not criminally responsible by reason of a mental disorder. He was declared fit to stand trial earlier this year and pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and aggravated assault.
The 23-year-old man has schizophrenia, but Macgowan said there is no indication he was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time of the attack, which also injured another girl.
Klein was initially compliant when he was taken into custody, he said.
Shortly after, he began to apparently fake seizures, defecated in a hospital bed, banged his head against walls and changed his behaviour depending on who was in the room, Macgowan explained.
“Klein engaged in acts that could certainly be explained by a desire to appear in some way mentally disturbed,” he said.
“There is little in the way of evidence before the court that would connect that behaviour to any particular mental illness.”
‘Calmly' looked at hunting knives in store
Instead of being mentally ill at the time of the attack, Klein was angry, desperate and hopeless and capable of contemplating drastic violence, Macgowan said.
As further testament to his apparent ability to make decisions and execute them, Macgowan pointed to how Klein stole alcohol the day of the stabbing. After that, he went into a hunting store and “calmly” compared knives.
He then hid a knife under his sweater before the stabbing.
“Mr. Klein was capable of and, in fact, engaged in deliberate conduct from the point of his arrest through to the point in time and afterwards that he began to co-operate with his corrections staff,” Macgowan said.
“Any change in Mr. Klein's behaviour was the product of his own volition.”
Klein sat in the prisoner's box in the courtroom wearing a navy sweatshirt. He periodically looked back at the viewing gallery but showed little emotion.
Klein looks radically different than he did in police surveillance images released around the time of the attack. He is now heavier and has longer, curly hair.
The defence is expected to present closing arguments on Wednesday.
Subscribe to Centenunlimited news
We hate SPAM and promise to keep your email address safe
