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Man mentally ill – Metro US

Man mentally ill

A man who admittedly sexually assaulted three children was found not criminally responsible for his actions yesterday, after an expert witness for the defence confirmed he suffers from severe schizophrenia.

An expert in forensic psychiatry, who has been treating Jonathon Quinn Lewis at Alberta Hospital since December, testified that Lewis committed the brutal sex acts because he believed his actions would prevent a looming gang war.

“He believed in some way that these ‘evil actions’ were important to prevent a Calgary gang from infiltrating Edmonton,” testified Dr. Alberto Choy. “It made important in his mind to prevent these things from happening.”

Lewis did not speak in court yesterday, but was mumbling to himself, quietly laughing, smiling, and would frequently cradle his head in his hands.

In the past four months he’s been in treatment at Alberta Hospital, the 25-year-old has been frequently locked in seclusion because of his erratic, violent behaviour. Choy said that “scrambling of his brain chemistry” also made him unable to sequence his thinking and speech.

Choy said that Lewis claimed his hand had been guided toward the first victim by Jehovah in 2006, and that the acts of sexual abuse that followed in 2007 were “clip-ons” that would continue to keep the gangs at bay.

“It’s our opinion that he didn’t know what he was doing was morally wrong, but was for the greater good of the city,” Choy testified.

Lewis has been ordered to stay at Alberta Hospital until he’s well enough to leave. Judge Donna Valgardson also ordered Lewis to give police a DNA sample and that he be registered as a sex offender for the next 20 years.

victoria.handysides@metronews.ca