A forensic psychiatrist evaluates Kyle Sequeira Criminally responsible for the second-degree murder of their parents Lynette and Francis Sequeira believed Kyle's motive for killing his parents was based in reality and not out of mental illness.
Dr. Lisa Ramshaw disagreed with defense forensic psychiatrist Dr. Derek Palandi, who testified Tuesday that Kyle suffers from Mental disorders At the time, he was suffering from schizophrenia and was unable to recognize the wrongness of his actions.
It is accepted that the 29-year-old man beat his parents to death with a golf club at their Scarborough home between September 4 and 5, 2021. But Kyle has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. Defense attorney Marcus Bohnfreund argued that his client is not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder.
Ramshaw testified that Kyle, according to his account, was furious and had smoked marijuana and then drank two airplane-sized bottles of wine hours before the incident. She said alcohol would have exacerbated his anger.
It is understood that a few weeks before the murder of his parents, Kyle's mother called the police after an argument with a female friend at Kyle's home. Kyle was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer, among other charges.
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Kyle was charged with attempted murder for stabbing his friend 13 times in June 2019 and is currently under house arrest with his parents as sureties. The court heard that a preliminary hearing on the attempted murder charge was about to begin just two days after he killed his parents. His parents are expected to be called as prosecution witnesses.
“When asked about the homicides, Mr. Sequeira explained that he was 'just angry because his parents called the police – so when I get angry I wake them up from their sleep and beat them to death with a golf club.' His anger has only intensified since he was released from prison,” Ramshaw wrote in the report.
Ramshaw said she could not diagnose Kyle with schizophrenia, although he may have the disorder, and she did not believe he was suffering from an active mental illness at the time of the crimes.
She also admitted that Kyle knew hitting her parents with a golf club would cause their deaths and that his actions were wrong.
She told Judge Anne Molloy: “There is no information to suggest that he did not know it was wrong or could not have known it was wrong.”
In his diagnosis, Palandi mentioned that Kyle told him that when killing someone, a voice told him to “just do it.”
Ramshaw said she thought it was probably just an “inner voice” rather than a hallucination, adding there was no evidence Kyle was suffering from hallucinations at the time.
The court heard that Kyle had been receiving antipsychotic medication after a psychiatrist at Toronto's East Detention Centre diagnosed him with schizophrenia while he was in custody accused of murdering his parents.
Closing arguments will be made on Thursday.
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