Seizures Cause Erratic Behaviour Beyond Client’s Control

Charges:       

CC: s.279(1)(a) – Kidnapping / Child Abduction, s.267(b) – Assault Causing Bodily Harm, s.270(1)(a) – Assault Police Officer, s.279(2) – Forcible confinement, CDSA: s.4(1) – Possession of a Controlled Substance (crack cocaine).

Allegations:

My client was accused of numerous offences, over a period of several months. First, for no apparent reason, my client opened the back door of a woman’s car, grabbed her 9 year-old daughter’s arm and tried to pull her out from the back seat. Her mother freaked out and pulled on her daughter’s other arm to prevent him from taking her. Their hysterical screams got the attention of two witnesses who chased my client away.  He later returned to the scene and was arrested without incident.  At the police station, while being questioned in an interview room, my client became agitated, tried to leave, then punched a police officer in the mouth after being prevented from leaving.  Second, while in custody at the Remand Centre, my client assaulted one of his cell-mates.  Third, while being assessed at the Forensic Psychiatry Centre, my client punched a nurse in the face and then attacked a Correctional Officer by punching her in the head repeatedly.

Defense:

Automatism. My client suffers from a medical condition, known as Temporal Lobe Epilepsy, which in his case, consists of a vascular lesion in the pre-frontal cortex of his brain, known as a Cavernous Angioma, which causes bleeding in the brain.  This causes him to experience recurrent generalized focal seizures. During these seizures, he behaves abnormally, and in manner that is beyond his control, which renders him confused and without any recollection of his actions.

Result:          

These matters remain to be decided before the courts, with the calling of various medical expert witnesses.