A man has been found guilty of manslaughter but not guilty of murder in the killing outside a Vancouver coffee shop of a father who was pushing his daughter in a stroller just before he was stabbed to death.
Inderdeep Singh Gosal had been charged with second-degree murder in the March 2023 death of Paul Schmidt outside a Starbucks where he was stabbed six times in an attack captured on video and shared widely online.
Gosal’s lawyers had argued in the judge-alone trial in B.C. Supreme Court that a manslaughter conviction was more appropriate, saying the attack involved “overreaction due to mental illness” rather than a “deliberate intent to kill.”
But Crown prosecutors said they had established Gosal knew his actions could have resulted in Schmidt’s death.
CCTV footage played in court in February showed a verbal confrontation that turned physical when Schmidt approached Gosal, who was smoking something near the Starbucks entrance.
The court heard Gosal has schizophrenia and he testified he had stopped taking his medication about three months before the killing, and believed a knife he said he found in an alley was a “sign from God” he needed to protect himself.
But the Crown cited several instances of Gosal changing his story, including about buying the knife, exaggerating to police how much alcohol he consumed and presenting psychiatrists with self-serving depictions of his psychological state.
The Law Courts building, home to the B.C. Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, is seen in Vancouver, B.C., Nov. 23, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Keep it Factual
Add CityNews Vancouver as a trusted source on Google to see more local stories from us.
