Tanvir Singh attacked a 10-year-old girl with incredible violence last March during a psychotic episode. Even if he still hears voices and has stopped taking his medication without anyone knowing, he claims to be fully recovered. The Crown thus asks to impose an extremely rare status on him because of his dangerousness.
Posted at 5:00 p.m.
“The risk of psychotic relapse and violence in the gentleman remains significant,” concluded psychiatrist France Proulx in an expert report filed in evidence on Wednesday as part of a Crown request.
Tanvir Singh was found not criminally responsible (NCR) due to his mental disorder last July. The Crown is now calling for him to be declared a high-risk accused, an extremely rare designation reserved for NCR offenders at high risk of violent recidivism. It makes it possible to considerably restrict their outings outside the psychiatric hospital.
This gratuitous aggression shocked Quebec last spring. For no reason, the 21-year-old violently attacked a 10-year-old girl who was walking with friends on the sidewalk at lunchtime in Pointe-aux-Trembles. When the girl smiled at him, Tanvir Singh suddenly pulled an Exacto type knife from his pocket, but didn’t use it.
“Mr. Singh gripped [la victime], hit her with his fists, kicked her and smashed her head on the ground. Mr. Singh dragged the victim down the street and then onto the sidewalk where he continued to beat her,” the summary of facts states.
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Members of the victim’s family, last March, at the Montreal courthouse
Fortunately, two good Samaritans intervened to rescue the little girl. She suffered a concussion and a broken nose. She retains physical and psychological scars from the assault.
Invaded by “voices”
The psychiatric reports filed in evidence lift the veil on the circumstances of this troubling affair. The day before the assault, Tanvir Singh allegedly asked another resident of his building for a weapon to carry out a “mass shooting at his former factory”, said a report.
The same evening, Tanvir Singh left by taxi from his residence in Brampton, Ontario, to pick up his car in Montreal, “lost” for two months. Overwhelmed by “voices” the next morning, Tanvir Singh had the idea to go and kill the supervisor of his former employer, the report said.
Tanvir Singh then allegedly stole an Exacto-type knife from the factory locker room, then attempted to lure his supervisor into the parking lot to assault him. As his plan didn’t work, his “voices” laughed at him, according to the report. He would then have returned to the factory to hide in the toilets with the aim of attacking his supervisor. An employee, however, would have surprised him, pushing him to leave the premises.
It was while leaving the factory that Tanvir Singh finally met the girl and her friends on the Boulevard du Tricentenaire. At that moment, a voice in his head, a “girl” he calls “The character”, was yelling numbers at him and telling him to hurt others. He had been hearing the voice of “The character” regularly for months, according to reports.
Four months after these events, Tanvir Singh stopped taking his medication for a few days, without the knowledge of the staff of the National Institute of Forensic Psychiatry Philippe-Pinel, we learn in the Crown’s request. The offender considered his medication to be “of little use” and that he no longer required treatment. However, he noticed an increase in his auditory hallucinations and resumed his medication.
During his most recent psychiatric evaluation, Tanvir Singh was “eager to demonstrate the stability of his symptoms”, writes the Dr.D Proulx in his report. The young man considers that his psychotic symptoms are “completely resolved and that he does not present a risk of violence, since the symptoms are under control”. However, he was still hearing voices last month.
According to psychiatrist France Proulx, Tanvir Singh’s mental state remains “fragile” and his recognition of his illness remains “limited”. “Detention is still necessary. If he were declared a high-risk accused, this would ensure the protection of the public,” she concludes in the report.
It is on the basis of these conclusions that the Crown prosecutor, Ms.e Annabelle Sheppard, request to declare Tanvir Singh a high-risk accused. The defense attorney, M.e Milèva Camiré, however, plans to request a second opinion and has asked Judge Alexandre Dalmau for one more month for this purpose.