Two men ‘were doing all kinds of drugs. They were very messy, doing pretty wild things, ”the jurors hear in the final argument
There is no doubt that the friendship between Brad Southwind and Joseph Topping was a close friendship that was tragically based on substance abuse and mental health issues, the jury heard Thursday.
The consequences were tragic, predictable and avoidable, said the Crown, which explained why Southwind should be found guilty of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of his best friend in 2018.
What began as a dysfunctional friendship led to a plan to assassinate Topping, 31, because of Southwind’s belief from his conversations that he wanted to die, prosecutor David Didiodato said.
“He carefully considered his role as a friend and the best way to help.”
Southwind believed he was a man of medicine, helping and healing, and devised a plan to kill his friend, the Crown’s assistant lawyer said in his final 50-minute argument.
The men were in Southwind’s apartment, said goodbye and then went for a 300-meter walk, down a path behind the building, to the scene of the murder.
Southwind had a sharp, black-handled knife he had taken from his kitchen, took it out of his pocket, and stabbed Topping.
“This cannot be considered spontaneous,” Didiodato said. “The reason he stabbed Mr. Topping was to kill him.”
He knew his friend was in pain and “stabbed him over and over and over again, 17 times.”
Although Southwind initially denied his involvement, he eventually admitted to stabbing Topping and continued to do so until the man died.
Defendant “knew he was dead because his eyes were open and he was not breathing,” the Crown told jurors.
The more times you stab someone with a formidable weapon, like a knife, the intention is to cause death, Didiodato said.
Defendant stabbed Topping in the neck, chest, face, head and back, the most vulnerable parts of his body.
“He was stabbing to death.”
The murder was planned and deliberate, and Southwind’s remorse led him to confess to police, Didiodato said.
Both Southwind and Topping were schizophrenics.
Defendant had chosen to stop taking his medication and became a drug on the street, but there is very limited information about his illness at the time of the murder, he said.
Defense attorney Don Orazietti, pointing to Southwind in the prisoner’s box, told jurors that “my client sits in a fishbowl with a blank stare and carries medication with him.”
He admitted to deliberately killing Topping and pleaded guilty to manslaughter when he was tried on the murder charge, Orazietti said.
The Crown rejected that request and “we have a charge of planning and deliberate murder,” he said during his 40-minute closing presentation.
Orazietti questioned how what happened was planned and premeditated.
Southwind has schizophrenia, a major mental illness, is paranoid, does not take medication, and uses drugs on the street.
His client indicated that the two men “were doing all kinds of drugs. They were very messy, doing pretty wild things,” the defense said.
“He doesn’t have the ability to plan. He can’t plan the exit of a paper bag,” Orazietti told the jury. “This is a break with reality.”
No reason, Topping was his best friend and has a lot of remorse.
This murder is a terrible act, but 17 stab wounds are a frenzy, a person out of control and fits perfectly with a state of detachment, Orazietti said.
A “first-degree murder conviction is nothing more than hanging.”
To say that this is a premeditated and planned homicide is to “turn your back on the problem (mental illness),” he suggested.
Southwind is a young Indian, who grew up in an unstable situation with a lot of alcohol and drug use, Orazietti said.
“He’s not here with any luxury Toronto attorney … we have that image. You have to make inferences.”
Orazietti attacked as the prosecution presented his case, suggesting to the jurors that he was choreographed to “annihilate what was left” of his client and impress them.
“They did a show to get away from the merits (of the case).”
That’s what the Crown has done here, “out of revenge,” he said.
Prosecutors have tried to prove Southwind is responsible for the first-degree murder.
“He pleaded guilty to manslaughter, this was not accepted,” he said, calling it an “inadvisable indictment” with all “the resources the Crown was able to muster.”
Orazietti said the defendant is “the closest thing to a psychiatric report,” because the jury can see the state he is in.
“This case is about how we treat society with people who are mentally ill,” he said.
This is not a first-degree murder, but “the final decision is yours,” the veteran lawyer told jurors.
“Do what your conscience tells you,” he said, urging them to declare their client guilty of manslaughter.
Didiodato replied that there is no doubt that substance abuse and mental illness were involved in what happened.
But Southwind decided to stop taking his medications, decided to self-medicate with crystal methamphetamine, and decided to kill Topping.
“He is responsible and guilty of first-degree murder,” the Crown said.