South Asian Woman From Ontario Who Stabbed Another South Asian Woman Declared Unfit To Stand Trial

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Rohinie Bisesar was ordered to go through 60 days of treatment at CAMH and was deemed unfit to stand trial.

TORONTO — A South Asian woman charged in an apparently unprovoked fatal stabbing in Toronto’s financial district was declared unfit to stand trial Tuesday, with a judge ordering her to spend two months receiving treatment at a mental health facility.

Rohinie Bisesar faces one count of first-degree murder in the death of Rosemarie Junor, a 28-year-old newlywed who was stabbed at a Shoppers Drug Mart in Toronto’s popular underground PATH network of shops in December 2015, reported Canadian Press.

Bisesar was originally slated to stand trial in January 2018, but the Crown requested she receive a fitness assessment.

That hearing began before a jury on Monday, with Bisesar claiming she hears unseen people speaking to her who control her actions. She also claimed Junor is not really dead.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Ian Swayze testified that Bisesar has a mental illness consistent with schizophrenia and experiences delusions, auditory hallucinations, disordered thoughts and paranoia.

Because of her condition, Bisesar could not effectively conduct her own defence or instruct defence counsel, Swayze told the court.

Fitness requires that a person be able to instruct their lawyer, understand why they’re in court and who the major players are, including the judge and prosecutor.

The jury at the fitness hearing found Bisesar unfit to stand trial after a short deliberation on last week.

Justice John McMahon, who was presiding over the matter, then ordered Bisesar to spend 60 days in treatment at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, a standard measure for people deemed unfit for trial, known as a “treatment order.”

Bisesar will likely be given anti-psychotic and anti-anxiety medications while at CAMH, the court heard.

She is scheduled to return to court on Feb. 9. At that point, a new hearing will be scheduled to determine if Bisesar’s treatment has resulted in her being fit to stand trial, her defence lawyer Robert Karrass said.