Expert defence witness questioned over YouTube content at Winnipeg serial killer’s trial

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The lawyers for a Winnipeg man who admitted to killing four First Nations women told an expert months after his arrest that the accused had been diagnosed with untreated chronic schizophrenia, court heard Monday, in a trial that is now focusing on whether he was too mentally ill to be held criminally responsible.

The revelation about Jeremy Skibicki’s mental health came as Crown prosecutors attacked the credibility and qualifications of the defence’s first expert witness, a British doctor who assessed him twice after the accused was arrested in May, 2022.

Defence lawyer Leonard Tailleur is presenting his arguments this week in the trial of Mr. Skibicki, 37, after the Crown spent weeks last month detailing Mr. Skibicki’s crimes and portraying him as a calculated and methodical killer rather than someone who was not in control of himself because of mental illness.

The defence opened its case by seeking to admit testimony from forensic psychiatrist Sohom Das from the North London borough of Enfield. Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Justice Glenn Joyal heard that Dr. Das assessed Mr. Skibicki twice: Once in September, 2022, when he had been charged with only one of the four murders; and on another occasion in April this year.

Mr. Skibicki has additionally been assessed by a Crown-arranged psychiatrist last month. The results of that assessment will be shared in court following Dr. Das’s testimony, prosecutors said Monday.

When Dr. Das was hired by the defence for his first assessment, he was told that Mr. Skibicki had been diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia that appeared to have been left untreated. Dr. Das is expected to testify later this week about that assessment.

But the Crown objected to him being certified as an expert witness, arguing that he is unqualified and pointing to a large body of online videos, including one where Dr. Das admitted to being “duped” by someone into believing they had a mental illness.

Dr. Das describes himself as a YouTuber and legal consultant. He graduated with a medical degree from the University of Edinburgh before pursuing a career in psychiatry.

After an entire day of fervid questioning about his credentials, Justice Joyal ultimately decided that Dr. Das is eligible to be an expert. But the judge cautioned that the court will revisit concerns related to his professional conduct.

“His conduct – I’m referring now amongst other things to his YouTube videos – is self promotional and potentially compromising of his credibility,” Justice Joyal said.

Crown attorney Christian Vanderhooft questioned Dr. Das’s objectivity on Monday and confirmed with him that he had ignored requests to speak with prosecutors before the trial.

Mr. Vanderhooft pointed out that one of Dr. Das’s catchphrases is to “always plug yourself” and that much of his work focuses on media commentary, such as TV interviews, which help promote his non-academic books and YouTube channel. The Crown suggested these public appearances may influence some clients to hire Dr. Das as a psychiatric consultant, but that does not make him a credible expert in Canada.

Dr. Das agreed that he has never testified as an expert in a case arguing for a not-criminally-responsible verdict, such as that of Mr. Skibicki. He has testified about four or five times in equivalent cases in Britain, where they are referred to as not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity verdicts, though they are handled differently than in Canada, Dr. Das said.

Mr. Vanderhooft played a short clip of one of Dr. Das’s YouTube videos in court, suggesting it showed his lack of responsibility as a psychiatric expert. The vertical, TikTok-style video showed Dr. Das wearing a tank top as he casually said one of the “stupidest” things a person can do is confess to murder “for no reason” when they are accused of such a crime.

“It was meant to be a joke,” Dr. Das told the court.

Mr. Vanderhooft questioned him about several other videos, including one that the prosecutor said had since been removed from Dr. Das’s channel, in which he discussed how people can fake symptoms of a mental illness.

“You did a tongue-in-cheek video to show people how to fake a mental illness?” Mr. Vanderhooft asked him. “And you thought that was a good idea?”

“Yes,” Dr. Das said, calling that video “educational.”

Justice Joyal also had questions for Dr. Das about his “provocative” online content: “Do you think what you’re doing is considered professional behaviour?”

Dr. Das replied by saying he does not profit from his YouTube channel and that prosecutors have carefully selected which of his videos they should play in court to prove their points.

According to an agreed statement of facts by both the Crown and defence, Mr. Skibicki killed four women in 2022: A yet-to-be-identified woman whom Indigenous elders have named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, meaning Buffalo Woman, on or about March 15; 39-year-old Morgan Harris on or about May 1 of that year; 26-year-old Marcedes Myran on or about May 4; and 24-year-old Rebecca Contois on or about May 1.