Crown says Gabriel Klein acted with intent in stabbing of Abbotsford teen

A B.C. Crown attorney says Gabriel Klein had the mental capacity to know that stabbing 13-year-old Letisha Reimer 14 times in the hallways of her Abbotsford high school could lead to her death.

Closing arguments have begun in B.C. Supreme Court in the trial of the man who stabbed Reimer to death in Abbotsford on Nov. 1, 2016.

Klein, who was 21 at the time, is charged with one count of second-degree murder in her death and one count of aggravated assault for stabbing her friend.

Reimer died after both girls were attacked in the hallway of Abbotsford Senior Secondary.

This morning, Crown attorney Rob MacGowan argued the available verdicts the judge should consider are second-degree murder or manslaughter. 

"This is a case where an unreasonable and irrational intent is nonetheless intent," said MacGowan in a New Westminster courtroom.

'Desperate and hopeless'

Klein, whose hair is now longer than at the time of the stabbing, kept his head down and forward as proceedings unfolded and did not show any visible signs of emotion during the prosecution's arguments.

"The evidence before you established that Mr. Klein, at the time of the stabbings, was angry, that he was desperate and hopeless and that he was capable of and in fact was contemplating drastic violent action in the hours before the stabbings,'' MacGowan told Holmes, who is hearing the case without a jury.

On the whole of the evidence, the brutality of the killings and Klein's behaviour before and after the attack, it can't be assumed that his actions were "the product of a disordered mind,'' MacGowan said.

He said a partial defence of intoxication "lacks an air of reality'' and that alcohol Klein may have consumed before the attack was not enough for him to be unaware of the natural consequences of his actions.

The program co-ordinator of the Lookout Shelter where Klein stayed before the stabbings testified in October that he demanded she call his mother in Alberta, and he became angry when his mother wanted contact with him only by email.

Andrea Desjarlais said Klein also demanded the shelter immediately get him a bus ticket to Edmonton but when she again explained that would not be possible right away, he banged on lockers where clients store their belongings and she heard what she thought was him kicking the bathroom door from the inside.

The Crown is going over the witness testimony heard over the course of the trial, including from staff at the high school, police officers at the scene and the doctor who treated Klein in hospital, to argue that the accused had the ability to distinguish right from wrong.

His defence lawyer had previously indicated it would pursue a verdict of not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder.

Klein has schizophrenia and suffers from auditory hallucinations, paranoid delusions and thought disorder.

However, a B.C. Supreme Court justice ruled that he was fit to stand trial in January 2019.

Witness testimony, including the school principal

There is no dispute that Klein stabbed Reimer to death repeatedly. A six-second video submitted as evidence shows him making a stabbing motion. 

Her school's principal, Robert Comeau, previously testified that he had run out of his office to find Klein holding a knife over Reimer's bloody body.

He said he and a vice-principal managed to restrain the killer, while other staff performed first aid for Reimer.

After the stabbings, Klein told a psychiatrist who assessed him in an emergency room that she should record their conversation, because his lawyer would mount a defence that he was not responsible because of a mental disorder, MacGowan said.

Klein also told the psychiatrist that he hid the knife under his sweater before approaching Reimer and the other girl, who he initially thought were monsters but then realized they were girls but continued the attack, MacGowan said.

The unnamed girl who was stabbed told the court in a video statement played in October that she was writing out Christian music lyrics while Reimer took photos to post on social media when they saw someone "mean'' approaching them.

She said she ran into a classroom and only remembers Reimer screaming, not the pain from her stab wounds to the right side of her chest, left shoulder, right middle finger and eye.

The court was shown a video taken by a student from the third floor overlooking the rotunda, where a man was seen repeatedly stabbing a screaming girl on the floor, then the attacker walked backwards away from her and the knife fell to the floor.

The Crown will continue presenting its closing arguments Monday afternoon. The judge will then hear from defence lawyer Martin Peters.