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Accused claims voices told him to ‘kill somebody’ before Qualicum Beach stabbings

May 31, 2017 | 4:14 PM

NANAIMO — A dramatic turn of events in Supreme Court in Nanaimo on Wednesday during what was scheduled to be a sentencing hearing for a man charged with stabbing two people at a Qualicum Beach home.

Instead of being sentenced on two counts of aggravated assault, which he previously plead guilty to, defence, Crown Counsel and the judge agreed a trial was more appropriate for Steven Robert Clark.

An hour later the 34-year-old Clark pleaded not guilty on grounds he’s not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

Clark told court he doesn’t remember the April 8, 2016 stabbings, but does recall dropping a knife. He testified he had a long history of drug use, including crack cocaine and crystal meth. He stated marijuana had been his drug of choice since moving to his sister’s Qualicum Beach home in 2016.

Clark told Court he suddenly started hearing loud male and female voices in his head about two months prior to the stabbings.

“It was really impossible for me to hear conversations most of the time with people, the voices were so loud,” Clark testified while being questioned by his lawyer Stephen Taylor.

He said he had never heard these kinds of voices before, adding it was nothing compared to a pair of minor hallucinations he experienced in his hard drug days several years earlier.

Clark told Court the voices were often negative and taunted him at times.

“If I didn’t do something my family was going to get hurt or people in the world were going to get injured or die, also claiming that one was God and one was the devil, there was a lot of that.”

He said about a month prior to the stabbings he told his sister that he felt he needed to go on a journey. Clark told Court he walked to the Courtenay area where the voices got louder.

“I spent four days in this swamp place, no food or water.”

Clark was then picked up by a local RCMP officer and taken to Nanaimo Hospital’s psychiatric unit where he spent three weeks. Clark testified he took tests and had prescription drugs while at the hospital, but left against the recommendation of hospital staff.

He said that was two or three days before the stabbings.

On the night of the stabbings, Clark testified he was planning to go to bed, then voices told him to kill somebody. He said he then went outside the home where he stabbed his brother-in-law and a close friend.

He said he doesn’t remember the stabbings, but remembers dropping the knife. Clark told Court he went back inside and told his sister what happened and waited to be arrested.

Clark’s brother-in-law sustained the more serious injuries, which included a wound that knicked his liver, according Taylor. The other victim’s primary wound was to his head.

Clark plead not guilty to a count of aggravated assault and and another of assault with a weapon. He was originally charged with attempted murder.

Clark previously underwent court-ordered psychiatric assessments where he was told he was fit to stand trial.

He has been in custody since his arrest at the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre in Victoria.

The trial, being overseen by Justice Douglas Thompson, is expected to continue beyond Wednesday.

 

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes