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B.C. Judge Finds Blair Donnelly Not Criminally Responsible in 2023 Chinatown Stabbings

A provincial review board will decide his treatment or detention within 90 days.

Overview

  • Justice Eric Gottardi ruled that Donnelly was not criminally responsible because he lacked the capacity to rationally choose his actions.
  • The case has been referred to the B.C. Review Board to set a disposition on detention, supervision, or treatment within the statutory timeline.
  • Three people were wounded at the Light Up Chinatown festival in September 2023, with two women stabbed in the back and a man stabbed in the arm.
  • Donnelly was on unescorted leave from the B.C. Forensic Psychiatric Hospital at the time of the attack.
  • Psychiatric evidence cited schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, featuring religious delusions, and Donnelly testified he believed he was prompted by God; he had prior NCR findings in 2006 and 2017.