Review Board finds Gabriel Klein fit for trial in death of Abbotsford teen
Posted January 15, 2019 9:35 am.
Last Updated January 15, 2019 9:48 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
COQUITLAM (NEWS 1130) – The B.C. Review Board has found the man accused in the stabbing death of a teenager at Abbotsford Senior Secondary is fit to stand trial.
The board had reserved its decision earlier on Tuesday. Crown prosecutors, Gabriel Klein’s defense, as well as his doctor say they believe he is fit to stand trial.
A judge will have to make a final decision on whether or not there will be a trial.
It was a shocking case which rattled Abbotsford in 2016. Thirteen-year-old Letisha Reimer was stabbed to death in a random attack at her school.
Klein is charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault for an attack on another girl at Abbotsford Senior Secondary on that same day in 2016. Right now, he is being held at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam, after the review board previously found he wasn’t fit for trial back in September.
RELATED: Man accused of stabbing teen in Abbotsford says he hears voices ‘every hour of the day’
Klein’s lawyer, Martin Peters, explains his client wants to move the process along and welcomes the board’s decision. “He welcomes it. He’s keen to get on with the trial.”
“He’s had this very, very serious charge hanging over his head for a very long time and he would like some finality as I’m sure most of the people involved including the families of the victims,” Peters adds.
Before the decision came down, Dave Teixeira, who speaks for the Reimer family, told NEWS 1130 the process is a painful one for the family. “This is a very strange process because he has not been found NCR — not criminally responsible — so he’s in the hospital almost at a waiting room.”
Klein has been diagnosed with schizophrenia, and Teixeira explains Klein also hears voices in his head.
“He has three different voices, or personalities, perhaps, that are speaking to him. One is named Lucy, who seems to be the one encouraging him to be violent. We’ve heard in the past that he hears instructions from people from CSIS or the CIA.”
Teixeira adds Klein had also, at one time, believed prison guards were trying to poison him when he was in prison about a year ago. “There’s a lot of — maybe this is not the right word but it’s my word, my layman’s word — a lot of paranoid delusions.”
In April, 2018 a judge found Klein unfit to stand trial, citing concerns related to his ability to maintain a presence during the trial. But doctors say new medication has improved Klein’s condition, reducing the symptoms of his schizophrenia.
Texeira says the Reimers are also ready to move forward with the trial. “The family is not vengeful. The family is not trying to ensure that he’s locked up and the key is thrown away. They want to see justice, whatever that might look like.”
-With files from Marcella Bernardo
