B.C. stabbing suspect didn’t think he’d avoid criminal responsibility: prosecutor

VANCOUVER – A prosecutor says the man accused of stabbing three people at a Vancouver Chinatown festival two years ago told a doctor after his arrest that he didn’t believe he’d avoid criminal responsibility for the attack.

Blair Donnelly has been facing cross-examination at his trial for aggravated assault, after telling the B.C. Supreme Court that he believed he was compelled by God when he bought a chisel and used it to stab two women and a man at the Light Up Chinatown event.

Crown prosecutor Mark Myhre asked Donnelly what it meant to be found not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder, later saying he was “curious” because of what Donnelly told a doctor after being arrested.

Donnelly, who has pleaded not guilty, says he didn’t know why he told the doctor that he didn’t believe he’d be found not criminally responsible, and disagreed that he was “mentally fit” as suggested by the Crown.

“The reason I suggest to you that you think you were mentally fit at that time is that you look back, you realize that you misinterpreted what God laid on your heart that day,” Myhre said. 

“As I look back, I agree with you,” Donnelly replied. 

Myhre said it wasn’t that Donnelly was unwell, but rather that he’d “misinterpreted” what he’d received as a “prompting” that day. 

“Is that a fair summary of your perception as you look back?” Myhre asked. 

“That’s a fair analysis,” Donnelly said. 

He said he was prompted by the “Holy Spirit” to visit Chinatown on Sept. 10, 2023, after being let out of the forensic psychiatric hospital for a bike ride. 

The court heard Wednesday that Donnelly had previously been found not criminally responsible for stabbing his daughter to death in 2006, and for a 2017 attack on another psychiatric patient with a butter knife. 

Myhre said Donnelly was indeed “mentally fit” at the time of the Chinatown stabbing, and it was only in hindsight that Donnelly said he had “misinterpreted” a divine prompt to harm people. 

Donnelly took long pauses to answer Myhre’s questions, his mouth agape. 

The 66-year-old suspect told the court on Wednesday — two years to the day after the attack — that he was mentally and “morally” sick at the time of the stabbings. 

Donnelly testified that he was consumed by the thought of harming people after being told by God to do so when he was let out of the B.C. Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam to go on a bike ride on the day of the attack.

Myhre asked if Donnelly understood what would happen depending whether he was found not criminally responsible for the attack.

The suspect told the court that one outcome would see him sent to jail, and another would see him sent back to the hospital.

When Myhre asked him which he’d prefer, Donnelly said he wants to go where “God wants me to go.” 

“If it’s prison, so be it. If it’s Colony Farm, so be it,” Donnelly said, using another name for the hospital.

The trial continues Thursday. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2025.