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Supreme Court rules Simon James Baker was incapacitated by schizophrenia when he stabbed Denise Allick six times
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A Nanaimo man has been found not criminally responsible for stabbing a woman to death outside his grandparents’ home because he was psychotic at the time.
According to a Supreme Court of B.C. ruling, on June 20, 2022, Simon James Baker was standing outside the home on 8th Street in south Nanaimo at around 10 p.m. having a cigarette when he was approached by 41-year-old Denise Allick.
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The pair had never met and for no reason Baker pulled out a knife that he was carrying and stabbed Allick six times in the face, neck and shoulder — with one wound severing her carotid artery, which quickly led to her death.
Baker was 21 at the time of the killing and had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia at age 17 when he had delusions that people were trying to break into his home.
In December 2021, Baker believed he was being watched by people with “reptilian eyes” and he was at one point detained by police under the Mental Health Act.
In April 2022, Baker’s grandmother reported to police that he was having a psychotic break and was carrying a machete. He was also becoming paranoid about people trespassing on his grandparents’ property — where he lived — and was speaking about being possessed by a devil.
In late May of 2022, he was seen at the Nanaimo General Hospital emergency ward, where Baker asked that his medication dosage be increased. Baker also had cocaine-use disorder.
Baker was arrested shortly after the June 20 killing and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, admitting that the deadly attack was intentional.
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However, it was up to Justice Douglas Thompson to determine whether Baker was not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder.
“In her statement given on 22 June 2022, two days after the homicide, Mr. Baker’s mother told the police that “for the last six months or so, well the last year and a half or so really, he is quite paranoid, delusional and very concerned about trespassing on his property,” Thompson wrote.
“She also reported that her son was speaking about how he had been possessed by a demon at his grandparents’ house, and that she had known for months that he is definitely delusional and paranoid.”
In conclusion, Thompson said “Ms. Allick was evidently on the property where Mr. Baker lived when she was stabbed. It is unclear why she was there. Tragically, her presence seems to have triggered Mr. Baker’s psychotic symptomology.
“This is a difficult case, but I am satisfied on a balance of probabilities that in the moments when Mr. Baker stabbed Ms. Allick, he was incapable of rationally considering whether his conduct in the particular circumstances would have been morally condemned by reasonable members of society. Accordingly, I rule that he is not criminally responsible for this homicide by reason of mental disorder.”
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Baker will now be held at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam where his future will be determined by the B.C. Review Board.
Thompson noted the presence of Allick’s friends and family at the ruling and said “I can only imagine how difficult this continuing process must be. I want to tell you that I am very sorry for your loss.”
On a GoFundMe page established to pay for Allick’s funeral expenses, she was described by her brother as “a mother, sister, daughter and aunty who loved her family.”
dcarrigg@postmedia.com
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