The man accused in the fatal stabbing of a Calgary fitness instructor told court Wednesday he saw “animalistic creatures” surrounding him and he believed he had to “attack or be attacked.”
Michael Adenyi is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Vanessa Ladouceur.
The 30-year-old victim was walking to work along 10th Avenue S.E. in the early morning of March 18, 2022, when she was attacked.
Defence lawyer Curtis Mennie is arguing Adenyi, now 29 years old, is not criminally responsible (NCR) by reason of a medical disorder.
That requires proving the accused suffered from a mental disorder at the time of the incident and was also incapable of knowing whether the criminal actions were wrong.
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During questioning by Mennie, Adenyi said he had been seeing “animalistic creatures,” including demons, angels and ghosts, as well as hearing voices in his head in the lead-up to the attack.
“I was scared. I thought they were coming to attack me,” Adenyi told court.
He described multiple hallucinations, flashing lights and experiencing tunnel vision before encountering Ladouceur around 6:27 a.m.
He also said they looked like lions, tigers and bears with mangled or ripped-apart faces.
“I have to attack first for advantage, or I’m going to get killed,” he said.
Adenyi described a pain in his left hand that shocked him back to reality, and he “saw a figure that looked like a person below” him.
As he described the events, he began visibly and audibly crying, wiping away tears with his hands and tissues.
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Court heard he had used a kitchen knife from his home that he had been carrying in his backpack because he was paranoid.
The accused also described later dumping the backpack and its contents, which included some notebooks with sketches of himself as Batman, the words “rape, torture, kill” and a list of the names of several celebrities.
Medical disorder
At the 12-person jury trial on Wednesday morning, Adenyi said he had visited doctors for concerns over his mental health several months prior to the attack.
Court heard that on Nov. 16, 2021, he saw a psychiatrist at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre, where he was diagnosed with severe depression and prescribed medication, yet the hallucinations persisted.
Adenyi said he only had vague recollections in the aftermath of the attack and was being treated during his time at the Southern Alberta Forensic Psychiatry Centre for schizophrenia.
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Trial proceedings
Ladouceur’s family was present for the trial proceedings on Wednesday.
Family and supporters of Adenyi were also there.
The trial is expected to extend to April 25.
