A young Westsyde man accused of killing his father in September 2011 understood what he was doing, but didn’t know it was wrong, a prosecutor said Thursday.
A trial is set for the week of Nov. 5 for Joshua Steel, who is accused of killing 63-year-old Phil Steel.
A report from a court-ordered psychiatrist determined Steel is not criminally responsible by reason of a mental disorder.
The facts of Phil Steel’s death are expected to be entered at the trial. The bulk of the two- to three-day trial will hear from a psychiatrist who interviewed Joshua at length.
He lived with his parents in a Westmount home.
“He knew what he was doing,” prosecutor Joel Gold told B.C. Supreme court Justice Joel Groves during a pre-trial conference Thursday.
“In his (psychiatrist’s) opinion, he didn’t know it was wrong.”
Two days before Phil Steel’s death, Joshua went on a window-smashing spree in the neighbourhood. The psychiatrist is expected to testify that was the first psychotic episode that preceded Phil Steel’s death.
