Advertisement

Man accused of killing Red Deer doctor claimed he was seeking revenge for chemical castration

Deng Mabiour died earlier this month before facing a first-degree murder trial in the death of Dr. Walter Reynolds. (Facebook  - image credit)
Deng Mabiour died earlier this month before facing a first-degree murder trial in the death of Dr. Walter Reynolds. (Facebook - image credit)

The man accused of killing a 45-year-old Red Deer doctor last year told police he did it to seek revenge for being chemically castrated in the Red Deer Hospital years earlier.

Deng Mabiour was supposed to go on trial later this month to face a first-degree murder charge in the death of Dr. Walter Reynolds.

Mabiour died in custody while in hospital earlier this month and the jury trial was cancelled.

His cause of death has not been formally released, but court had been told earlier that he was receiving treatment for cancer.

A transcript of Mabiour's interview with RCMP was released by Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta to CBC News on Monday.

The Crown was planning to use it at trial after Justice Paul Belzil ruled it admissible.

Mabiour attacked Reynolds with a hammer and a machete in an examination room in a Red Deer walk-in clinic on August 10, 2020. Reynolds later died at hospital.

Hours after the attack, Mabiour was questioned extensively by Cpl. James McConnell and Cpl. Chris Temporal.

The transcript is 184-pages long.

Mabiour told Temporal in a rambling interview that in 2012 he was sick with Hodgkin's disease.

He said his test results were sent to Dr. Willem Grabe at the Village Mall walk-in clinic. Mabiour claimed that Grabe made an appointment for him at the Red Deer Hospital.

"This appointment is castration, to castrate me," he told the RCMP, adding that the doctor at the hospital told him he was being treated for cancer.

Mabiour said he was in extreme pain with swelling the next day so he went to the walk-in clinic and saw Reynolds. Mabiour said Reynolds gave him some pills that failed to reduce the swelling.

Mabiour said once he completed treatment at the hospital, he filed a complaint with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta.

He told RCMP the college investigated but ultimately dismissed the complaint. The investigation included an interview with Reynolds, he told police.

Travis McEwan/CBC
Travis McEwan/CBC

Mabiour believed he was targeted for castration because of the colour of his skin.

He also said he wrote to his member of parliament, the Alberta government and the Alberta Human Rights Commission, but got nowhere with his claims of chemical castration.

"I'm not a criminal," Mabiour told the officer. "But the mess, the government, Alberta government, federal government are responsible for ... this crime I carried out.

"That is a revenge."

'When there is no way out I can kill'

Mabiour said he woke on the morning of the attack with a plan. He told RCMP he threw away all of his medications because he didn't think he'd be returning to his apartment.

"You planned on killing Dr. Reynolds today?" McConnell asked.

Harm him or die, the same things - Deng Mabiour

Mabiour confirmed that was his plan. He said that if Grabe had been at the clinic that day, he would not have gone after Reynolds.

"If the Dr. Reynold (sic) is still there and Dr. Willem Grabe in the walk-in clinic, I would deal with Dr. Willem Grabe and leave the Reynold," he said.

Mabiour put a hammer and a machete in a bag and boarded a bus to get to the clinic to see his family doctor.

"Did you want to kill him?" McConnell asked.

"I wanted to harm him," Mabiour answered. "Harm him or die, the same things."

Mabiour said he decided to take the law into his own hands as a last resort.

"When there is no way out, I can kill. I came to win," he said.

Mabiour said he was sitting on a chair in an examination room at the walk-in clinic when Reynolds entered and asked, "What do you want me to do for you?"

Mabiour told RCMP he didn't answer the doctor. Instead he reached into his bag, pulled out a hammer and struck the doctor repeatedly in the head. He said Reynolds tried to get away, but Mabiour pulled out another weapon that he called a dagger and struck Reynolds in the neck.

He said one doctor came into the examination room armed with a broom, but quickly ran away when he saw what had happened.

When an RCMP officer entered the clinic, Mabiour admitted he threw the hammer at him.

"I was supposed to die. To be shot to death," Mabiour said. "I changed my mind quickly."

Instead, he surrendered.

"I drop, I lie down," he said. "Because I want to fight this. So in the future, no other black man ... would be castrated."

Mabiour told the officers he was unable to control himself during the attack.

"I was angry too much," he said. "Angry, was been for a long time."

During the lengthy interview, Mabiour expressed no remorse about the death of Reynolds.