Sketch from the Kachkar trial. Left to right: Defence lawyer: Bob Richardson, foreground Justice Ian MacDonnell, left background, Witness: Daniel Da Silva (snowplow driver), Crown attorney: Christine McGoey Accused Richard Kachkar, head down, & hands clenched throughout) (Sketch by PAM DAVIES)
TORONTO - A forensic psychiatrist asked by the Crown to examine Richard Kachkar says the accused cop-killer was mentally ill when he struck and killed Sgt. Ryan Russell with a snowplow.
Testifying for the defence at Kachkar's first-degree murder trial, Dr. Philip Klassen said he conducted a psychiatric assessment on Kachkar while he was a 60-day inpatient at Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences in the fall of 2012.
Klassen said that while he struggled with a diagnosis, he concluded Kachkar was "psychotic at the material time" and suffered from "psychotic disorder not otherwise specified or possibly schizophrenic."
