J.S. Vijaya

Toronto criminal lawyer J.S. Vijaya applauds an Ontario Court of Appeal decision that upholds infanticide as a defence, noting it’s a “step forward in protecting women and the rights of the mentally ill.”

The landmark ruling arose in the appeal of a case of a mother who killed two of her four children. The woman had mental health treatment as a teen before she gave birth to her first child. (Read More)

“For centuries prosecutors have tried and mostly succeeded in presenting juries with alleged facts in any murder trial as a simple binary analysis,” says Vijaya. “The reality of mental illness complicates the typical “eye-for-an-eye” reasoning. It has been long understood in Western jurisprudence that we must not hold people who are mentally ill fully responsible for their crimes.”

Vijaya says, in short, “the criminal specific act may be done by an accused, but the mental element, the actual intent attached to the act may not be fully present. Post partum depression is a real phenomenon that has been long recognized by the medical community.”

Vijaya says that until recently these mental health issues specifically affecting women had “not been paid much attention to by the criminal courts or the Criminal Code of Canada. The so-called infanticide provision is a specific and direct recognition of the sad reality of post partum depression that is suffered by some women within the general population.

“The Crown argument in summary was that alleged baby killers will now get a free pass by faking mental illness. It was soundly rejected by our Court of Appeal,” says Vijaya.   By AdvocateDaily Staff

J. S. Vijaya is an experienced criminal trial lawyer who has been practising in the Toronto area since 1997. He has successfully defended a wide variety of criminal charges including first-degree murder, armed robbery, possession of handguns, possession for the purpose of trafficking narcotics, being a member of a criminal organization and others. He lives in Toronto with his wife and young daughter. He can be reached at 416-441-9499 or at justice@jsvlawyer.com.

Phil Brown/Photo

For more information contact AdvocatePR at (416) 729-4043.