Man who killed woman on Yonge Street by pushing her not criminally responsible: lawyers

Ryan Cunneen, found guilty of manslaughter in July for an unprovoked attack on a senior in January 2023, was not criminally responsible at the time due to a mental illness, according to a forensic psychiatrist who testified in court Tuesday.

In a Toronto courtroom, assistant Crown attorney Meghan Scott and defence counsel Maureen Addie urged Justice Rita Maxwell to accept the uncontested diagnosis of the psychiatrist and find Cunneen not criminally responsible.

Dr. Maxym Choptiany testified that Cunneen was experiencing psychosis due to schizoaffective disorder when he forcefully pushed Xiaoxia Wang, 89, from behind while he was running at top speed on a sidewalk along Yonge near King Street on Jan. 20, 2023.

Wang fell to the ground where her face hit the pavement with significant force, causing her head to snap backward. A post-mortem found Wang died from hyperextension neck trauma due to blunt force facial trauma causing spinal cord and brain damage, leading to her sudden death.

Choptiany concluded after interviewing Cunneen on four separate occasions at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and reviewing evidence including arrest videos that due to Cuneen’s severe thought disorder, he could not know the wrongfulness of his actions or society’s appreciation of wrongfulness and weigh the consequences of his behaviour at that time.

“He was suffering from significant disorganization in this thinking and could not engage in rational decision making,” Choptiany said.

Choptiany told court that Cunneen has been in and out of hospital since 2007 for mental health issues. Prior to the Yonge Street attack, he had been living in British Columbia where he was hospitalized in 2020-2021 after being found unfit to stand trial on groping charges. While the charges were eventually stayed, Choptiany said Cunneen was put on injectable antipsychotic medication but according to a self-report, he last took his medication six months prior.

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“By January, at the time the offence happened, he would not have had any medication in his system,” said Choptiany.

In the 40-page NCR assessment report filed in court, Choptiany wrote that on the day of the manslaughter, Cunneen, who was homeless, “expressed grandiose delusional beliefs regarding his wealth and occupation as an FBI agent as well as paranoid and persecutory delusional beliefs regarding police harassment. In addition to erratic and disorganized behaviour, he evidenced severe thought disorder when interview by the police shortly after his arrest.”

The psychiatrist wrote in his report that Cunneen had a general awareness of the wrongfulness of his actions but wasn’t aware whether there were legal consequences.

“He knew that he had pushed the victim and that they had fallen and could have been injured and stated that he had continued to run in part due to his concerns that there was potentially going to be some sort of legal repercussion. However, his decision was complicated by worry about the legal ramifications of having earlier broken the window of Subway. Mr. Cunneen stated that if he hadn’t broken the window, he wouldn’t have run away.”

According to the agreed statement of facts, Cunneen threw a brick through the window of a Subway restaurant on Church St. just ten minutes prior to the fatal assault.

“At the time of the index offence, he was homeless and untreated and profoundly psychotic. Given the severity of the psychotic symptoms, including the severity of his thought disorder, it is unlikely that he would have been able to engage in rational decision making at the time of the index offence and to make a rational choice. He would not have been able to appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions against societal norms,” the report found.

Scott urged Maxwell to accept the diagnosis of Choptiany. “This is a joint request that the court find Mr. Cunneen not criminally responsible for the manslaughter of Xiaoxia Wang on January 20, 2023.”

Choptiany testified that for the past year, Cunneen has been treated with antipsychotic medication and since that time, his symptoms have attenuated though he still has grandiose beliefs. He added, Cunneen currently does not believe he is suffering from a mental illness and shows a lack of insight into the fact he suffers from a mental disorder.

“If he were not subject to a keep fit order, or a review board order like he was in B.C., he would not take medications,” Choptiany added.

If the judge rules that Cunneen was not criminally responsible for manslaughter, Scott said Cunneen would be remanded under the care and supervision of the Ontario Review Board.

Maxwell has reserved her decision until Dec. 4th.

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