Suspect in Vancouver Starbucks stabbing ‘unmedicated’ at the time, his lawyer said.

VANCOUVER — The lawyer for a man accused of fatally stabbing another man on a Vancouver Starbucks patio in 2023 told his murder trial that her client suffers from psychosis and schizophrenia and was unmedicated on the day of the killing.

Inderdeep Singh Gosal, 34, pleaded not guilty last month to the second-degree murder of Paul Schmidt on March 26, 2023.

Gloria Ng told Gosal’s B.C. Supreme Court trial in her opening statement on Tuesday that though her client had been prescribed antipsychotic medication, he had stopped taking it in January 2023.

She said the defence will show through the testimony of Gosal and a psychiatrist that her client did not intend to kill Schmidt and, while he meant to cause harm, he did not have the mental capacity to understand that his actions would cause death.

“The question the court has to answer is whether the Crown has established, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Mr. Gosal had the intent to kill Mr. Schmidt, reckless or not,” Ng said.

“The defence will ultimately ask this court to find Mr. Gosal guilty of manslaughter of Mr. Schmidt, but not guilty of second-degree murder.”

Gosal later began testifying in his own defence on Tuesday, telling the court that he had initially been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and depression in 2014 after he begun having hallucinations and delusions.

He said he believed he was receiving “messages” from the TV about death, citing cancer and funeral commercials.

He also recalled hearing the sound of crows and noticing people dressed in the colour white, which he told the court signified death in South Asian culture.

Gosal said he began worrying that those were signs warning him of harm toward himself or a loved one.

When he saw the time as 1:11 or 11:11, he took it as a “sign something is going to happen,” he told the court.

He was prescribed antipsychotic medication, though said he “didn’t take it all the time.”

Gosal said he didn’t think the drugs were helping him, in fact he was feeling worse.

“I wasn’t getting better.”

Gosal said in January 2023, he had stopped taking his medication. He said his family, whom he lived with, were concerned by his behaviour and were suspicious that he had stopped his medication, which caused friction.

He testified of an incident that month where police were called after he got into a verbal argument with his sister that led to him throwing a glass coffee table at her.

Crown prosecutor Karin Blok said on the first day of the trial by judge alone last month that the “primary issue” was intent and whether it could be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Gosal intended to cause Schmidt harm that he knew was likely to cause death.

CCTV footage presented earlier at the trial showed a verbal confrontation between the two men that turned physical when Schmidt approached Gosal, who was smoking something near the Starbucks entrance.

The altercation left Schmidt lying in a pool of blood after being stabbed six times in the chest.

Footage of the stabbing was widely shared on social media in the days that followed.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2026.