Hamp’s second-degree murder trial was adjourned to December to give a defence expert time to include the new information in his report.
Thomas Hamp’s Saskatoon murder trial has been adjourned for three months to allow a defence expert to review new information that came to light last month.
The first portion of Hamp’s judge-alone murder trial was held this week in Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench. It is set to resume Dec. 17 for the testimony of the defence’s final witness, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Shabehram Lohrasbe.
The defence is trying to prove that Hamp was suffering from a mental disorder when he killed his girlfriend, 25-year-old Emily Sanche, and should be found not criminally responsible.
Hamp, 27, stabbed Sanche in the chest with a kitchen knife in the early morning of Feb. 20, 2022 inside Sanche’s Greystone Heights condo.
Hamp survived his own self-inflicted stab wounds and was charged with second-degree murder.
A month later, in March 2022, police intercepted apology letters Hamp wrote from jail to Sanche, her parents and her cousin. Defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle said he only became aware of them last month.
He said Hamp’s psychiatric assessment was done earlier this year and the expert report was nearly done. The delay was ordered to allow Lohrasbe to review the letters before presenting his final opinion to the court, Pfefferle told reporters on Thursday.
“The report was not available at this time and the defence wanted the expert to review some information that had come to light more recently,” Crown prosecutor Cory Bliss said, adding the Crown will then review Lohrasbe’s report and decide what, if any, evidence it will call in response.
In most criminal trials, the Crown must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In this trial, the onus is on the defence to prove that the accused was unable to appreciate the nature and quality of the act, or didn’t know it was “wrong.”
Pfefferle said any documentation of an accused person’s “own words” is typically relevant when preparing an expert report.
After his initial letters were seized, Hamp wrote another set, which he said he never intended to actually give to their recipients, and sent them to his parents. Pfefferle said the Hamps turned them over to police once they realized their relevance, and he only learned of them last week.
The letters were filed as evidence at trial.
Court heard Hamp, who had been diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, had been off and on his medication in the months leading up to Sanche’s death. He said he stopped completely — against his doctor’s order — because he thought the medication was trying to brainwash him, and eventually refused to go to the hospital because he thought doctors would turn him over to the secret police.
He also said Sanche was worried that his heavy cannabis use might be contributing to his delusions, intrusive thoughts and false memories, so he quit smoking two days before the stabbing.
“In October 2021, I began feeling paranoid that Emily and I were being watched. I did not believe it at the time, but I now think this paranoia and ensuing psychosis were caused by the weed I was smoking. Needless to say, I have quit for good,” Hamp wrote in one of his letters to Sanche’s cousin and best friend, Catherine.
“Emily had been worried about me for months by the time my condition got really bad, and she was asking me to go to the hospital and quit smoking weed long before I did,” Hamp wrote in another letter to Sanche’s parents.
They didn’t tell Sanche’s parents about what was happening, and they didn’t call police. Hamp’s parents said they all believed the only danger Hamp posed was to himself, and they were trying to figure out the best course of action without triggering him.
The day before the stabbing, Sanche told Hamp’s parents that Hamp had agreed to go to the hospital, and that she would make a detailed timeline of his declining mental health to give to doctors. Hamp had shared most of his paranoia and delusions with Sanche, who shared it with his parents.
“I know now that I was the only danger either of us faced, and I wish I had put my faith in Emily when she told me no one was coming to hurt me,” Hamp wrote to Sanche’s parents.
“I know there was more I could have done to avoid what happened. I assure you I did not know in advance what would happen, and I would have told somebody if I thought I was a danger to anyone.”
Hamp praised Sanche for her unwavering support in a letter written to her.
“You were my love and my guiding light. You were never anything but patient, compassionate and generous with me. Even as I got sick and became difficult to deal with, you were there for me. It is completely unfair that I hurt you and took you away from your family and friends. I regret how much I have hurt them, too.”
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