Abolish Not Criminally Responsible Law (NCR) for criminals.

[blackbird]

Canada and its Supreme Court seems to want to always bend over backwards for so-called rights of criminals.

NCR is just another excuse to let dangerous murderers and others off.

People who commit murder should not be able to get off with these so-called NCR rulings.   We have seen this before with the guy that beheaded an innocent passenger on a Greyhound bus.  He was free and back on the streets in a few years with a new name.

"

A man has been found not criminally responsible due to his mental disorder for killing an Amnesty International worker and volunteer who had been helping him settle in Ottawa in 2023.

Superior Court Justice Anne London-Weinstein issued her decision last week.

London-Weinstein told court that Ahmed Ismail, 46, suffers from schizophrenia, resulting in psychosis and paranoid delusions. She ruled Ismail was not criminally responsible (NCR) at the time of the killing because his mental illness rendered him incapable of knowing his actions were wrong.

"William Bryant, 74, was found dead in the stairwell of Ismail's apartment building on May 9, 2023. Ismail was charged with second-degree murder. 

Defence lawyer Richard Addelman initially applied for an NCR ruling, and assistant Crown prosecutor Marie Dufort later joined in.

Last week's ruling came after the judge made a rare request of counsel in July to expand on and clarify some evidence in the case.

At the time, London-Weinstein said there were still "too many unanswered questions" about the relationship between Bryant and Ismail, about whether Ismail might have known what he did was wrong, and about whether he might have had a motive.

Court heard last week that the relationship between Bryant and Ismail was friendly, nothing more, and that the judge had been furnished with copies of mental health assessments that alleviated her concern that a second assessment may have been "rushed."

An Ottawa police cruiser parked at the scene on Carousel Crescent in May 2023. (Radio-Canada)

A family of pacifists

Victim impact statement were also heard in court last week. The victim's twin brother Ted Bryant, who lives in Australia, said they "had a bond only twins can truly understand," and said he struggles to understand how such violence could have happened "to such a gentle, kind and lovable person."

The Bryant family has been pacifist dating back generations to the Napoleonic wars and "instinctively avoided conflict," Ted Bryant said.

"Will wouldn't hurt a fly," Ted Bryant said, adding that he found his brother's killing "inconceivable."

Ted Byrant's wife Diane Bryant said she's "truly puzzled that this quiet, gentle man was able to provoke anger so great that he was viciously attacked and subsequently stabbed and murdered. I cannot imagine or let myself think of how frightened he must have been, how much pain he must have suffered, and how desperate he must have been to get away."

Man who killed Amnesty International worker found not criminally responsible

How can a judge tell whether this guy knew what he was doing at the time?  She can't.  Nobody can.  When a person commits the crime, they should be found guilty.  Speculation, about what the suspect was thinking when he committed the crime by so-called psychiatrists or anyone else, should have nothing to do with the court case.  This is bizarre fairyland thinking by politicians and judges.  A murder is murder and a criminal's alleged thinking at the time of the crime, which is impossible to know, should have nothing to do with it.

This also sends a message to potential killers throughout the country;   don't worry, you will probably get off with NCR.  Just act goofy and give a little evidence you are mentally unsound and unstable and you can get away with murder and get a nice comfortable care home (mental hospital) to live in for a few years and then be released.  All meals provided.  No more sleeping on streets or dirty old hotels.  No more worrying about meals and shelter.  You will be taken care of.

 

Edited December 5, 2025 by blackbird

[WestCanMan]

3 hours ago, blackbird said:

London-Weinstein told court that Ahmed Ismail, 46, suffers from schizophrenia, resulting in psychosis and paranoid delusions. She ruled Ismail was not criminally responsible (NCR) at the time of the killing because his mental illness rendered him incapable of knowing his actions were wrong.

Amoral POS disorder is real. Seems like about 1B people have it. 

[herbie]

Yet another circular argument from those unable to grasp the basic concepts,
If they're NCR they're not criminals. Therefore you cannot remove the NCR 'for criminals'
The very argument itself is therefore invalid.

 

[cougar]

7 hours ago, blackbird said:

He was free and back on the streets in a few years with a new name.

 

..and then what?  Did he cut anyone else's head off after that?

The guy was sick at the time and indeed not criminally responsible.

The law is intended to punish criminal behavior by those who know what they do is wrong; not accidents or crimes of someone walking in their sleep.

Let's say a rock falls on your not so smart head.  What would you do?  One like you will put the rock in jail, I bet you!

[taxme]

5 minutes ago, cougar said:

..and then what?  Did he cut anyone else's head off after that?

The guy was sick at the time and indeed not criminally responsible.

The law is intended to punish criminal behavior by those who know what they do is wrong; not accidents or crimes of someone walking in their sleep.

Let's say a rock falls on your not so smart head.  What would you do?  One like you will put the rock in jail, I bet you!

The let off head chopper criminal has not killed anyone so far? Maybe next week one of them will chop someone's head off. And if we are lucky, it will be your head and not someone else's head. Just saying. 

My belief is that once they have committed such a dastardly deed and crime like chopping someone's head off, they should be either locked up in jail for life or executed. No more being soft on crime or it is now time for some tough love. I don't want any of those psychos on my street and looking for his next innocent victim. 

WOW, that is some stupid rock falls on someone's head comment. How can anyone in their right mind want to arrest and put a rock in jail? Now that is cruel and unusual punishment for any rock. LOL.

It looks to me like you have had plenty of rocks fall on your head in your lifetime? Just saying!!