Saskatoon man killed his roommate with a hammer while impaired on ‘bad mushrooms,’ court documents say

WATCH: Court documents from a Saskatoon homicide case from 2023 revealed a man killed his roommate with a hammer.

Warning: This story contains details some readers may find disturbing.

Hours before his death, a Saskatoon man told police he believed his roommate was going to kill him.

Steffen Pohl, 35, was found dead inside his Idylwyld Drive North home at 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 30, 2023.

Pohl’s roommate, Nader Butter, was charged with second-degree murder.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Butter hit Pohl “multiple times with a hammer.”

Butter pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter. Court documents say that his level of intoxication meant he lacked “the necessary intent to commit murder.”

Around 8:30 p.m., hours before Pohl’s death, the roommates were drinking and “hanging out together,” according to an agreed statement of facts.

The court document says Pohl and Butter also consumed magic mushrooms (psilocybin) — leading to a shift in their demeanour and “things started to become violent.”

The roommates had two physical fights before the hammer attack, according to the agreed statement of facts.

• Get the latest news from Saskatoon, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

At 10:39 p.m. Pohl called 911. Pohl said he gave his roommate “bad mushrooms and that his roommate was trying to murder him.”

A Saskatoon police officer attended the home and left “approximately seven minutes later,” the agreed statement of facts says.

Throughout the night, Butter called their landlord “saying things were getting out of hand.”

At 7 a.m., Butter called the landlord again “and told him there was a dead body in the house.” The landlord advised Butter to call police.

At 7:30 a.m., two police officers attended the scene.

“Butter opened the front door, and the officers observed that he was barefoot and covered in blood. He appeared to be calm and stoic,” the agreed statement of facts reads.

Police found Pohl “in a pool of blood in the front common area” with a “hammer covered in blood” at his feet.

Blunt force trauma to the head was determined to be Pohl’s cause of death.

Butter is scheduled to be sentenced on June 24.