Man charged in death of Etobicoke mosque caretaker found not criminally responsible
A man who fatally stabbed a volunteer caretaker at a Toronto mosque back in 2020 has been found not criminally responsible for his actions.
On Friday, Superior Court Justice Peter Bawden found Guilherme "William" Von Neutegem not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder in the death of Mohamed-Aslim Zafis.
Von Neutegem had originally been charged with first-degree murder. The Crown and the defence made a joint submission that he be found not criminally responsible.
Zafis, 58, was sitting outside an Etobicoke mosque on Sept. 12, 2020 when he was attacked — at the time, he was controlling the number of people entering the building to comply with public health regulations during the pandemic.
In the days after his death, Zafis was mourned by his family and friends as a "kind, gentle soul" who would hand out food to the hungry and keep his fellow worshippers safe.
Bebi Zafis, Mohamed-Aslim Zafis' only daughter, wrote in a victim impact statement that she's been profoundly affected by her father's death.
"I know that no punishment will ever be enough for what this man has done to my father," she wrote.
"There is no room in Canada for people who commit such violent acts and then questionably use mental health as their defence for what they have done."
Von Neutegem's case has been referred to the Ontario Review Board. The board decides if and how not criminally responsible patients should be detained.
Bebi Zafis described her father as a caring and loving parent who checked in on her daily.
"I am here today without the love and support of my father because he was murdered," she wrote. "He came forward to give me the love and support I desperately needed."
Zafis, who also lost her mother in a car accident months before her father's death, said she lives in constant fear and has been left "broken" by what happened.
Man diagnosed with schizophrenia
Psychiatric reports filed with the court said Von Neutegem was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
One of the reports said he was suffering from schizophrenia when he carried out the attack, and up to two years prior, but he was not diagnosed or treated for the mental illness at the time.
Von Neutegem said he started hearing male voices around five months before his arrest giving him instructions from "higher dimensions" that it was time for him "to find someone to kill," one psychiatric report said.
Von Neutegem said he thought it was not generally fine to kill a person but felt he had to comply with the command because it was coming from "higher planes," the report said.
"It's not up to a person to decide who lives and dies ... it's up to the higher guiding of things, God or the universe," he was quoted saying in a report by Dr Alina Iosif, a forensic psychiatrist.
The Canadian Anti-Hate Network had alleged that Von Neutegem was linked with a neo-Nazi group after reviewing his social media accounts following the attack. But he rejected any hate toward Muslims, according to the report.
"He indicated that he had 'basic knowledge' regarding Islam but no feelings of animosity against it," Iosif wrote.
