Man who pleaded guilty to murders motivated by religious delusions, hearing told

HALIFAX – A forensic psychiatrist says a mentally ill man who has pleaded guilty to murdering two Halifax men in 2007 believed he was a god-like figure on a mission to cleanse the world of sinners.

Glen Race pleaded guilty in September to first-degree murder in the death of Trevor Brewster and second-degree murder in Michael Knott’s death.

However, Race’s lawyer has filed an application to have his client declared not criminally responsible because he was too mentally ill to appreciate that what he was doing was morally wrong.

Lisa Ramshaw, testifying today in Nova Scotia Supreme Court, said Race was motivated by religious delusions and paranoia brought on by a major mental illness, specifically schizophrenia.

Race, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was a young man, was extradited from the United States in October 2010 to face the charges.

At the time of his extradition, he was serving a life sentence for the 2007 shooting death of Darcy Manor in New York state.