Inderdeep Singh Gosal, who admitted stabbing the dad, had been charged with second degree murder but B.C. Supreme Court judge found him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter
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A man who stabbed a father of a toddler after a fight on a busy Vancouver Starbucks patio has been found guilty of manslaughter.
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Inderdeep Singh Gosal had been charged with second-degree murder and admitted to stabbing Paul Schmidt in March 2023 when he testified at his trial in B.C. Supreme Court that ended in the spring.
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But Justice Kathleen Ker found him guilty instead of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
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Second-degree murder carries with it an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for at least 10 years. With manslaughter, there is no mandatory minimum except for gun crimes.
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Gosal, who remains in custody since his arrest, will be sentenced at a later date. He returns to court later this month to set a date for sentencing.
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The stabbing at the café on Georgia and Granville streets followed a complaint by Schmidt that Gosal had been smoking near his toddler. That led to a short fight before Schmidt was stabbed six times within metres of many onlookers.
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Gosal told police within minutes of the stabbing, “I did it, he came at me” and confessed on the stand. The case centred around whether it required the necessary legal intent for murder.
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The prosecutor said the evidence, especially the 24 seconds of the security footage of the stabbing and events leading up to it, support conviction on the second-degree murder charge.
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Gosal’s lawyer argued for manslaughter because he was in an “unmedicated medical state,” due to a failure to take his antipsychotic medicine, and because he suffered from fear and paranoia.
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Gosal also testified that Schmidt attacked him first, and that he was defending himself because he thought Schmidt was going to kill him.
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But prosecutor Karin Blok said the evidence shows Gosal attacking Schmidt first, physically and verbally. Blok recounted several inconsistencies in his testimony and statements to police.
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The stabbing took place on a Sunday at around 5:30 p.m. and its aftermath was captured by onlookers on cellphone cameras. Several versions had been posted to the web that day, despite pleas by family and police to remove the graphic videos.
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Schmidt was at the coffee shop with his daughter and fiancée and he handed the toddler to her before the fight.
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B.C. Conservative party shadow minister for solicitor general Bryan Tepper said the manslaughter conviction did not fit the crime.
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“It’s ludicrous that a judge could find that someone who violently stabbed a father outside a coffee shop didn’t understand that death could follow,” Tepper said.
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“This is about more than one terrible incident. British Columbians are watching public disorder become normalized while violent crime continues to threaten ordinary families. People should not have to wonder whether asking someone to follow the rules could put their lives at risk.”
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