The mother of a Toronto man who has admitted to killing two strangers over two days April 2022 took the stand at her son’s first-degree murder trial Thursday and said she was “a little bit scared” of her son because of the way he acted.
Richard Edwin was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2010 when he was 28. Now 43, he has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder arguing he’s not criminally responsible (NCR) due to a mental disorder that rendered him incapable of knowing the wrongfulness of his actions.
On the stand Thursday, Edwin’s mother Carmen Campbell said she first noticed her son was acting differently when he was in his twenties.
“He was very nervous and agitated. He registered to go to Humber College but he wasn’t able to go,” said Campbell.
Campbell recalled one incident when her son was living with her for a few months around 2010 and he appeared very agitated and told his mother he was hearing voices. She said he called police to report it. Campbell said she took her son to a medical doctor, a doctor she was told “could see in the spirit.”
“Because he was an adult, they didn’t discuss the results with me. They gave him a prescription but he didn’t fill it. I think it was for a psychotic drug,” Campbell explained.
She said she later learned her son had seen a doctor in Ottawa, where he had lived with his father, who diagnosed him with schizophrenia.
Campbell who worked at Seaton House in downtown Toronto from 2002-2019, a shelter for people who are homeless, said she had frequent interactions with people suffering from mental health issues. She testified some time after he told her about hearing voices, she asked him if he was hearing them anymore, and he said no.
She said Edwin lived with her temporarily between residences explaining he lived in an apartment on Sherbourne Street near Dundas Street, which he shared before moving to the bachelor apartment on Spadina Road where he was arrested on April 10, 2022.
Edwin has admitted that on the afternoon of April 7, 2022, he took the TTC to Sherbourne subway station where he shot 21-year-old Kartik Vasudev multiple times before running off. Vasudev was a stranger and the two had no interaction prior to the shooting.
He has also admitted that two days later, on April 9, 2022, he took the TTC to Queen subway station before shooting 35-year-old Elijah Mahepath in the back from behind, before running off.
Campbell said she visited Edwin at least three times after he moved to the Spadina apartment, calling it a little dark room in the basement. She testified she didn’t like to go inside, instead would stay by the door.
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“I was a little bit scared to go there because he was acting so paranoid and I had heard in the news that one child had attacked and killed his mother in Scarborough,” she said.
“In the back of my mind, I was a bit scared to go in. I would let him come outside and when he came outside, he would look around as if somebody’s following him.”
Campbell also described how she noticed Edwin had developed a pronounced stutter explaining he would gasp as he was trying to speak. She said she didn’t want to ask him if he was okay.
“I didn’t want to get him upset. I would ask his father to talk to him to find out what was going on,” Campbell added.
Campbell explained he really didn’t work.
“At one point, he was selling some Muslim newsletters on the street and people would give him donations,” she said.
She said the last time she saw Edwin was in January 2020 when they were celebrating her birthday. Campbell said they went out for lunch at a fish-and-chip restaurant on Weston Road near her apartment.
“He was just looking around. Paranoid type of behaviour,” she explained. Campbell also said it was hard for him to communicate because of his stutter, which he didn’t have as a child.
Campbell said after the luncheon, she was helping Edwin looking for an apartment.
“He said he had an application he wanted to fill out to get a license for a gun. I said, ‘What do you need that for?’ I wasn’t going to fill it out. I never heard anything after that,” she explained.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Edwin was a registered gun owner who owned five firearms including a 9 mm Luger calibre Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol used in the shootings of Vasudev and Mahepath. The serial number of the pistol was obfuscated when it was seized from Edwin’s apartment.
Campbell also described one visit her son made to her apartment on the 19th floor.
“He wanted to go out on the balcony and I was very scared,” she said.
“I was thinking what if he goes out there and jumps over. I prayed he come in fast but there was no incident. I didn’t think he was in his right mind because of the way he would be looking around and staring and stuff like that.”
During cross-examination, assistant crown attorney Sandra Duffey asked Campbell how many times she had spoken to Edwin between January 2020 when the two had lunch and April 2022. She explained they had spoken once and texted once or maybe texted twice.
“At any point, do you remember having a conversation with your son about him wanting to move to Jamaica? At any point during the conversations with your son, Richard never spoke about white supremacists or any problems about anti-black racism?” said Duffey, referring to a report prepared by forensic psychiatrist Dr. Lisa Ramshaw, who was retained by the defence to assess Edwin for criminal responsibility.
Campbell replied no.
Duffey also told Campbell, Ramshaw said Edwin was pre-occupied with white supremacists, which Campbell denied knowing.
“Would it surprise you to know your son reported he smoke a lot of weed in high school?” said Duffey. Campbell answered she had never heard that before nor Duffey’s suggestion from Ramshaw’s report that Edwin reported using cannabis every other day and only stopped in 2015 or 2016.
Ramshaw is expected to testify next week that based on her assessment, Edwin qualifies for the NCR defence.
Duffey also asked Campbell about a text message from Edwin received on April 6, 2022, just one day before Vasudev was shot and killed. The text message which was shown in court was received just days after Campbell returned from an extended stay in Jamaica.
The message from Edwin to his mother read, “Be mindful when on the road mom. A lot of angry drivers now in Canada.” Duffey said in Ramshaw’s report after meeting with Campbell, Ramshaw wrote “She (Campbell) did not know what he meant though he had never said anything like that before.”
Duffey suggested to Campbell that it was not a change of behaviour for Edwin. “It was not a concern to me,” she replied.
“I’m going to suggest to you, when Dr. Ramshaw was asking you about your son’s behaviour, you were trying to find examples of a change of behaviour,” said Duffey.
Campbell replied, “No that’s not true because I wasn’t in contact with him.”
Duffey also pointed out that Campbell never mentioned to Ramshaw that she was afraid her son might jump off her balcony.
“What was in the back of my mind. If someone has mental issues, I was a bit scared that he wanted to go on the balcony to see what was it like. That was my own fear. Not like he was acting like he was going to do that.”
Mahepath’s aunt, uncle and sister attended the trial for the first time in person on Thursday. His aunt said Mahepath was on his way home from shopping when “somebody just shot him in the back”.
“It’s very stressful, just seeing him,” Monica Gonsalves said about seeing Edwin in the courtroom.
Gonsalves said Mathepath, one of four children moved to Canada from Trinidad at the age of 14.
“I hope the court considers all the evidence and justice will prevail.”
The trial continues.
