A B.C. Court of Appeal judge has ruled it is in the interest of justice that the court appoint a lawyer for a man appealing his second-degree murder conviction.
Yasin Jemal Rashid was convicted of second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of a Vancouver transition house resident. On April 21, 2023, Justice Nathan Smith sentenced the 28-year-old to life in prison without parole eligibility for 12 years.
Rashid was convicted in the Sept. 10, 2019 murder of Kyle Vincent Gabriel, 29, at Watson House. The house is a Vancouver Coastal Health facility that helps young adults transition from in-patient psychiatric care to independent living.
Gabriel was stabbed multiple times in the chest.
The court heard Rashid and Gabriel had been on friendly terms before the killing.
Rashid had gone to the facility kitchen, hidden a knife in his clothes, returned to Gabriel and stabbed him. The court heard Gabriel staggered from the room while Rashid ran off.
“He was killed in his own room,” Crown prosecutor Michaela Donnelly told Smith.
In a newly released April 15 decision, Justice Barbara Fisher said Rashid lacks the competence to present the complex appeal.
She said Rashid might have a viable argument on whether or not he was mentally capable of having the intent to commit murder.
The trial court had heard Rashid “was ‘in the ballpark’ of people who met the applicable legal test.”
Psychiatrist Dr. Shahram Lohrasbe said it “was very unlikely that the applicant maintained a normal moral compass at the time of the offence, but he could not comment on the degree of that distortion.”
Mental health issues
Smith had heard a defence argument for a not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder finding but dismissed it.
“He had failed to show he did not know his actions were wrong,” Smith said.
He did, though, hear submissions that Rashid has experienced mental health issues and had been on anti-psychotic medication, which had been cut off two months prior to Gabriel’s death.
Smith said any future danger to society Rashid might pose outweighs any diminished moral culpability arising from a mental disorder.
Appointing a lawyer
Fisher said there are two requirements for the appointment of counsel. First, the accused must have insufficient means to obtain legal assistance and, second, the appointment of counsel must be in the interest of justice.
She said Rashid would need a lawyer to analyze the trial record and present an argument to the court.
“He has a little education, limited English language skills and there is evidence of mental health issues,” Fisher said. “He faces substantial jeopardy given the life sentence imposed. I agree with counsel’s submission that this case is relatively complex.”
“I consider it to be in the interest of justice that counsel be appointed in this matter,” she ruled.
