WINNIPEG — Jeremy Skibicki killed four women and knew it was wrong but did it because he was under a psychotic delusion that he was on a mission from God, court heard Tuesday. Dr. Sohom Das, a forensic psychiatrist from the United Kingdom, testified the killings came after years of violent acts by Skibicki stemming from mental illness.
"I believe the delusions and the psychotic symptoms caused by schizophrenia directly motivated those killings," Das, testifying for the defence, told Skibicki's murder trial. "He believed in his mind that he was on a mission from God. He felt compelled to carry out the killings.
" Skibicki, 37, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the 2022 slayings of the four Indigenous women in Winnipeg: Rebecca Contois, 24; Morgan Harris, 39; Marcedes Myran, 26; and an unidentified woman an Indigenous grassroots community has named Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman. The Crown has so far presented evidence from video surveillance, DNA, computer files and witnesses to argue Skibicki had the mental capacity and awareness to plan and cover up the slayings. Prosecutors say the killings were racially motivated and Skibicki preyed on the victims at homeless shelters.
The trial has heard Skibicki assaulted the women, strangled or drowned them and disposed of their bodies in garbage bins in his neighbourhood. Myran and Contois were dismembered. Skibicki’s lawyers admit he killed the women but are arguing he should be found not criminally responsi.
