A man accused of killing two and injuring seven others was in an “abnormal mental state” when he crashed his pickup into a Maple Ridge sushi restaurant, a psychiatrist told the B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster yesterday.
Dr. Shabehram Lohrasbe said there was no rational explanation why Brian Craig Irving, 53, allegedly smashed his pickup into Halu Sushi at Westgate Mall on Aug. 28, 2008.
Maija-Liisa Corbett, 19, and Hyeshim Oh, 47, were killed and a nine-year-old boy suffered a fractured skull and brain damage as a result of the crash.
Irving has pleaded not guilty.
Lohrasbe told the court that Irving was in a state of delirium brought on by alcohol withdrawal and possibly aggravated by a head injury to his frontal lobe and fasting.
In the doctor’s opinion, Irving’s alleged actions were the result of “acute perceptual abnormalities” and he hypothesized that Irving “literally didn’t see the restaurant or people in front of him.”
Irving, Lohrasbe said, was a longtime alcoholic who was suffering from hallucinations and delusions at the time of the incident, including believing his children were dead. He also saw his brother, who lives in Saskatchewan, show up on his doorstep with a bison.
