Judge hears closing arguments in Saskatoon trial of man who stabbed partner to death

Dan Zakreski · CBC News

· Posted: May 28, 2025 3:12 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago

The lawsuit against accused murderer Thomas Hamp is closed and it's present up to a Court of King's Bench justice to determine which mentation of events to hold with.

Prosecutor Cory Bliss and defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle made last arguments Wednesday earlier Justice Grant Currie astatine the 28-year-old's judge-alone second-degree execution trial.

The contented is not whether Hamp fatally stabbed his spouse Emily Sanche on Feb. 20, 2022 — helium admitted that astatine trial.

Rather, the defence contends Hamp was successful a intelligence wellness situation that near him incapable of knowing that what helium was doing was wrong.

"There's lone 1 mentation for wherefore Thomas Hamp would person done this to Emily Sanche and it's helium was suffering from an acute psychotic occurrence wherever helium was not successful interaction with reality," Pfefferle said.

The Crown is suggesting that Hamp was successful a drug-induced psychosis erstwhile helium killed Sanche and past claimed an intruder had stabbed her and tried to termination him.

"From our perspective, it's precise antithetic that idiosyncratic would perpetrate a transgression portion deluded and past instantly suggest that idiosyncratic other committed the crime," Bliss said.

WATCH | Saskatoon proceedings of antheral who stabbed spouse to decease present up to the judge: 

Both Bliss and Pfefferle relied, to varying degrees, connected a 25-page appraisal done by forensic psychiatrist Shabehram Lohrasbe. The seasoned doc was hired by the defence.

Lohrasbe concluded successful his report, based connected 5 hours of interviews with Hamp and a reappraisal of notes kept by Sanche and her relative Catherine, that Hamp "was acutely and severely psychotic" erstwhile helium killed Sanche successful their apartment.

"Psychosis was the ascendant origin that drove his violence," Lohrasbe wrote.

"It is apt that his capableness to 'know' that his actions were wrong, successful the existent world, was severely impaired."

While testifying by video, Lohrasbe said helium could not overstate the value of the notes kept by Emily Sanche and her cousin. Pfefferle noted successful his adjacent that "her existent clip overview was not marred by memory, delusion, distortion or inaccuracy."

"The elaborate notes and substance messages that Emily and her relative Catherine compiled, described by Dr. Lohrasbe arsenic 'incredibly important documents' are uncommon successful their extent and immediacy." helium said.

"Dr. Lohrasbe, a psychiatrist with implicit 4 decades of acquisition and thousands of assessments to his name, testified that helium had 'never seen thing similar it.' Emily's substance connection chain, helium testified was 'poignant, and truthful adjacent to the offence' that it offered unparalleled penetration into the accelerated deterioration of Thomas's intelligence state."

• Crown quizzes psychiatrist successful Saskatoon execution proceedings astir imaginable motive, interaction of potent cannabis

Bliss offered a antithetic instrumentality connected the interaction of Sanche's elaborate record.

He suggested that a list compiled by the 25-year-old successful her diary successful the days earlier her death, which referenced the request for a intelligence wellness warrant and the necessity of seeing a doctor, really provided the motive for the attack.

Hamp, already successful a drug-induced psychosis due to the fact that of his sustained cannabis use, would person seen the database arsenic grounds Sanche was going to unit aesculapian attraction and readying connected leaving him, Bliss argued.

This menace of a spouse pulling distant is often a trigger for unit successful intimate spouse cases, helium said.

Bliss referenced however Lohrasbe was mostly acrophobic astir the interaction of high-potency cannabis connected a user's intelligence health. The doc agreed that symptoms from drug-induced psychosis could look similar intelligence illness.

"I deliberation determination is simply a existent interest for the nationalist that radical that take to instrumentality psychoactive drugs, and they suffer interaction with world due to the fact that of that, those radical should beryllium liable for their crimes," Bliss said extracurricular tribunal aft the day's proceedings were done.

Justice Currie reserved his determination to July 3.