Supreme Court affirms murder conviction of man who argued he was unfit for trial
OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the murder conviction of a man who argued he was unfit to stand trial because he experienced auditory hallucinations and schizophrenic delusions throughout the proceedings.
In a ruling issued today, the top court accepts the trial judge's finding that there were no reasonable grounds to believe Mohamed Adam Bharwani did not understand the reality of his trial.
Bharwani was 18 in early 2013 when he moved into a basement apartment in Toronto with other tenants, including a 23-year-old student.
Five days later, he attacked the student, striking her with a fireplace poker and then strangling her to death.
Bharwani was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
A jury ultimately found Bharwani fit to stand trial and he was convicted of first-degree murder.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 25, 2025.
Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
3 minutes ago
- CTV News
Male critically injured after incident near Toronto's Junction neighbourhood
One male is in hospital in life-threatening condition after an incident near Toronto's Junction neighbourhood. Toronto paramedics said they were called to the area of St. Clair and Hagar avenues, near Runnymede Road, at around 3:50 a.m. for a report of a cyclist struck. They arrived to find one male in critical condition and he was transported to hospital for treatment, paramedics said.
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
‘They found fentanyl on the steering wheel': Alberta man demands more oversight from Turo rental service
A Calgary man says he was detained for hours at the Canada-U.S. border after traces of fentanyl were found inside the car he rented on Turo. Kathy Le has more.
CBC
3 hours ago
- CBC
Top tips to avoid bike theft, and what to do if it happens to you
It's a gut-wrenching moment — going to hop on your bike, only to discover it's not where you left it, even though you locked it. Anna Schlieneber knows the feeling all too well. "I locked my bike up. It had a U-lock and a cable lock on it, but I guess it didn't secure it well enough because when I came back down it was gone," she said. It happened last weekend, sometime during the 90 minutes that Schlieneber was visiting a friend in Centretown. "It's kind of violating. It's a piece of property that I really value. Like I use it for exercise, for activity, for getting around downtown, and it's just really upsetting," she said. Ottawa police say bike thefts in the city were actually on the decline from 2018 until last year, when they started ticking back up. "[In 2018] we were at an average of about 1,700 bikes stolen per year — and keep in mind, this is just what's reported and the information that we have — versus now we're seeing about 1,400," Const. Derek Thompson told CBC. Thompson works with the Ottawa Police Service's central neighborhood resource team, and says Centretown is still the city's hot spot for bike theft. But it can happen anywhere, especially without the right precautions. How to avoid bike theft Here are Thompson's best tips to prevent your prized possession from being stolen: Lock your bike in a visible public area. "Choose well-lit, very open, highly visible areas with ... very visible bike racks, bike racks that are fixed and immovable," Thompson advised. "What we want to do is create a situation where it certainly doesn't give them an opportunity to spend a lot of time working to defeat that locking mechanism." Use a hardy lock. The most reliable kind of lock is made of high-grade steel, which is much more difficult to sever with bolt cutters or other tools. Lock it up properly. Thompson said the best method is to loop the lock through the front wheel and bike frame, then secure it to a fixed rack or similar object. For extra protection, secure the back wheel with a second lock if possible. Register your bike with 529 Garage. It's a free anti-theft app that lets you upload a photo of your bike, the serial number and any other unique features to help identify it. Police use the app frequently to help reconnect recovered bikes with their owners. "It is a go-to resource for us to be able to identify whether a bike is stolen, and to immediately connect with the owner of that property," Thompson said. You can pick up a sticker to indicate your bike has been registered at Ottawa police headquarters on Elgin Street or through 529 Garage. What to do if your bike is stolen Thompson said if you witness a bike theft in progress, call 911. Don't call the non-emergency line or report online. Don't engage with the thief, but if possible take photos or videos of them in the act to help in any police investigation. If your own bike is stolen, Thompson said the best course of action is to file an official police report. Follow these steps, he said, and you just might see your stolen bike again. "Sometimes the greatest rewards in our job are returning something that's extremely valuable to somebody's possession, and the smiles on their faces, endless expressions of gratitude. I mean, those are what really makes our day," Thompson said.
