BURST
The man accused in the stabbing death of a father of a toddler on a Vancouver Starbucks patio said he was afraid for his life during an argument over smoking that turned into a physical fight that day.
Inderdeep Singh Gosal testified in his own defence on Tuesday at B.C. Supreme Court, telling the court he tried to push Paul Schmidt away from him as they were swearing at each on the busy patio in the heart of Vancouver in broad daylight on March 26, 2023.
The attack happened in front of several onlookers, many of whom filmed the attack and posted it to social media, despite pleas from police and the dead man’s family not to.
Gosal is charged with second-degree murder and prosecutor Karin Blok said in her opening statements the main issue at trial was intent and whether Gosal intended to kill Schmidt.
“I remember trying to push him away more than once,” said Gosal, who has a stocky build, short cropped hair, beard and was wearing a dark blue sweater over a white shirt while testifying.
“I tried pushing him away and it wasn’t working, and I stabbed him,” the soft-spoken 34-year-old said without emotion.
Gosal testified he had gone to the Starbucks to enjoy a smoke and a coffee before going home.
“You didn’t mean to kill anyone?” asked his lawyer, Gloria Eng.
“No.”
Schmidt was stabbed six times in his torso and neck and more than one of the wounds could have been fatal on its own, according to earlier testimony of the doctor who performed the autopsy.
Gosal said he had been assaulted a number of times in his life and was afraid of being attacked, “especially downtown.”
He told court that’s why he had a knife with him that day. Despite telling police he bought the knife at a store, his testimony Tuesday was that he found it in a dumpster in an alley before going to Starbucks that day.
Ng showed through medical records and Gosal’s testimony that he suffered a concussion and went to St. Paul’s Hospital’s emergency room several years ago after he was assaulted and robbed.
“I was scared for my life and tried to push him away,” he said of the confrontation with Schmidt. “I needed to protect myself.”
Gosal testified that when he was on the patio smoking what he said was a cigar that may have had marijuana mixed in it, when Schmidt approached him a second time.
He said Schmidt handed his child to a woman and came at him.
“(He) was walking towards me and swearing,” he said. “I swore back.”
“I was scared. I was anxious. I was anxious that he might attack me.”
But when Schmidt walked away, “I thought it was over and I was safe,” Gosal testified.
“When he came back, I was paranoid and I was worried.”
After he stabbed Schmidt, Gosal said he went into the Starbucks and asked staff to call 911 and he used his own phone to call for an ambulance, he said.
“When I came out of the Starbucks, I put my hands up, and said I did it, and took responsibility,” he said.
Do you remember the words you told the police? his lawyer asked.
“I did it, he came after me, I did something wrong,” he said.
He said at the North Fraser jail in Surrey, a psychiatrist changed his antipsychotic medications and dosage.
“I feel much better and the symptoms are less,” he said. “I’m seeing things less and weird things less.”
He said he sometimes sees shadows in the room or thinks he sees something crawling on the mattress or that his phone is ringing when it’s not.
After the change in medication, “I can control myself now. I picture a stop sign and I stop and that helps,” he said.
Soon after Schmidt was killed, his fiancée told Schmidt’s mother that the fight started because Gosal was vaping next to their baby, according to the mother.
Ng told the trial in her opening statement earlier Tuesday that Gosal suffers from psychosis and schizophrenia and was unmedicated on the day of the killing because he had stopped taking his meds three months before, according to The Canadian Press.
She said the defence will show through the testimony of Gosal and a psychiatrist that her client did not intend to kill Schmidt. And, while he meant to cause harm, he did not have the mental capacity to understand that his actions would cause death, she said.
“The defence will ultimately ask this court to find Mr. Gosal guilty of manslaughter,” she said.