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A B.C. man has been acquitted of charges in connection with a 2019 sexual assault in Surrey because it was "prompted by his use of magic mushrooms and 'boosted' by Mr. Barrett香蕉视频直播檚 use of cannabis that day."
, decision posted online last week, Judge Timothy Hinkson gave his reasons for judgment in the acquittal of Leon-Jamal Barrett on charges of sexual assault, break and enter to commit the indictable offence of sexual assault, and resisting or wilfully obstructing a peace officer in the execution of their duties. The victim's name is covered under a publication ban.
"Mr. Barrett will not face a conviction in this matter, but he will live with the knowledge that he made a choice that resulted in temporarily losing his mind and committing an appalling series of acts against a stranger. The scar that he bears will be a constant reminder of these actions. It is my sincere hope that he finds some way to redeem himself," Hinkson said.
Hinkson acknowledged that this judgment will not help the victim or members of the community where the assault happened. The victim "was injured, continues to suffer pain, and remains horrified and traumatized by these events," Hinkson said.
"There is no doubt as to whether or not Mr. Barrett did what he is accused of," reads the reasons for judgment. Instead, the defence pleaded "non-mental disorder automatism."
Statement of facts
The court heard the statement of facts surrounding the sexual assault.
On the evening of March 9, 2019, Barrett 香蕉视频直播� who lived alone in a basement suite in his aunt's house 香蕉视频直播� smoked some cannabis to relax after he had gotten home from work. He had also purchased some 香蕉视频直播渕agic mushrooms" a few weeks earlier and had planned to take them that night. He had tried magic mushrooms several times before, as information he had found on the internet led him to believe they could help him with his depression.
The first time he tried the mushroom was in a tea. "He found the effect stronger than he did when he ate them, which is how he ingested them on the other occasions."
"His previous experiences had all been 'positive' and he found that he was 'coming to terms with and accepting' what he described as all of the problems he had put on himself," reads the judgment.
It took several hours for him to feel the effects of the mushrooms after eating them sometime between 7 and 8 p.m. After finishing a movie, he recalled being overwhelmed and started to cry.
"He described a complex hallucination in which he concluded that humanity was corrupt and destined to be punished, and that the reason for all the bad things that had happened to him in his life was that he needed to sacrifice himself to save humanity.
"Furthermore, he believed reality and other people only existed in his mind and, therefore, everyone could hear his thoughts. He was fixated on a belief that all life had started from one cell splitting into two and that he was a descendant of half of that cell.
"He believed God was commanding him to find the other half, a woman chosen by God, and that God would sacrifice both of them during an act of sexual congress in order to save humanity. He waited at his house for this woman to come. When she did not, he left his home, believing that if he walked anywhere, God would eventually bring them together."
Barrett testified that he then walked out of his home and down 81 Avenue, and when he heard a car door lock, he thought it was God instructing him that he was on the right path.
"He kept walking and saw a car approaching. He assumed this was the chosen woman. He watched a female driver park the car, go around the back of a house, and shouted at her, 'Hey!'"
As the victim turned to respond to the noise, Barrett was approximately three metres away from her. The victim then attempted to run away and tried to block Barrett with the back gate of the home.
He was somehow able to get to the other side of the fence and pushed her down on her back.
"When he put his tongue in her mouth, she bit his tongue as hard as she could," reads the judgment.
Barrett continued to assault her, and the victim fought back several times before she managed to escape.
"Mr. Barrett admits all of the foregoing to the extent he can remember it," reads the judgment. "He agreed he tried to remove (the victim's) pants but was unsuccessful, and that he disrobed. He was confused why the victim was fighting him. He pursued her into the garage because he 'was just not thinking rationally.' He admits to kissing her on the mouth and later the neck, to her biting his tongue, to grabbing her and holding her down, and her fighting back. He says he was trying to ask her, 'Why are you doing this? You know we have to do this or that we're all going to die, anyway,'" reads the judgment.
A neighbour and a resident of another unit in the victim's home called 9-1-1 after hearing the victim scream. During cross-examination, the resident noted that Barrett "seemed kind of lost" and disoriented at the time.
"Mr. Barrett testified that, at this time, he believed he could not die from the passage of time and that the police, who had also been corrupted, were going to lock him in a cell for the rest of time. He resolved to go home and take his own life so that another version of himself could be reborn and reincarnated and then maybe they could save the world.
"He went home, took a kitchen knife, and stabbed himself in the chest. When he hit bone, he tried to get deeper and then sat on the floor waiting to die, saying goodbye to people in his head who he thought could hear him. He could not find his phone and thought God had hidden it from him so that he could not be distracted by evil."
Police arrived on the scene
Police attempted to talk Barrett but stated during cross-examination that Barrett appeared "completely oblivious" to their attempts to talk to him.
"The police were there shouting at him and he thought, because they could read his mind, they knew that he had to sacrifice himself, they did not actually want to stop him and, if he did not think they existed, they were not there. He walked down the road and felt someone grab his wrists. He was 'constantly thinking I just need to get to the girl.' So, he sprinted away. He 'noticed' the wound on his chest had completely re-healed and he realized nothing was real. "
Police chased after him for five to 11 minutes before police had caught up with him and arrested him.
Barrett was charged with breaking and enter to commit the indictable offence of sexual assault, sexual assault, resisting or wilfully obstructing a peace officer in the execution of their duties, and public nudity. The public nudity charge was stayed before the trial started.
Expert testimony
Hinkson referred to the report of expert psychiatrist Dr. Shabehram Lohrasbe and his oral evidence. The report noted that Barrett had not had any psychotic symptoms prior to the incident. It noted that there was no evidence to show that Barrett "suffered from any underlying mental illness that would have triggered this event." He does have a history of depression and social anxiety, but Dr. Lohrasbe said the evidence he has seen "confirms that those conditions would not be expected to lead to what happened here."
Dr. Lohrasbe's report described Barrett's state of mind that night as "acutely psychotic."
"He was hallucinating and delusional, and those psychotic symptoms drove his behaviour. There was an element of dissociation and delirium, which were not primary. Dr. Lohrasbe conceded it was possible that the stab wound was the result of a feeling of guilt. However, it was his opinion that the stabbing indicated Mr. Barrett was grossly disordered at the time."
Lohrasbe described this as a highly unusual case. "Dr. Lohrasbe attributed Mr. Barrett's actions on the day of the incident to a psychotic episode prompted by his use of magic mushrooms and 'boosted' by Mr. Barrett香蕉视频直播檚 use of cannabis that day.
Hinkson also referred to the testimony he heard from a forensic toxicologist, Jacqueline Mack, who had taken Barrett's blood sample "into her possession and an analysis was conducted by a subsection of the team."
"I heard from the forensic toxicologist about how wildly unpredictable these substances are and, given the limitations of the testing, it is difficult to say what he consumed and if it was adulterated by some of the substances that could not be tested for," Hinkson said.
"I accept that he took something that he understood to be magic mushrooms and that the reaction was extremely different than it had been on the few earlier occasions on which he had consumed them. The forensic toxicologist also said that many of the things that he experienced could be associated with a hallucinogenic class drug even if they were not the expected or desired effects."
Hinkson found Barrett not guilty all counts on March 28, 2025.
"The totality of the available information suggests that Mr. Barrett's behaviour at the time of the incident of 9 March 2019 supports a link between the psychiatric and legal concepts of non-insane automatism," noted Hinkson.
The case was temporarily suspended while the R. v. Brown, (Brown) was in the courts. "The facts of this case arose under the old language of of the which was struck down in Brown and a companion case, R. v. Sullivan, (Sullivan), and before the new s. 33.1 was enacted," notes the judgment.
