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MANDEL: Lawyer with 'underlying psychosis' was on bail for domestic assault when husband killed
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Published Jun 10, 2025 Ā ā¢Ā 3 minute read
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Leahain MalcolmShortly after the Jamaican gay couple claimed refugee status here in 2020, Leahain Malcolm was taken to CAMH after telling husband Dr. Rupert Brown that he was hearing the voice of Justin Trudeau and wanted to see him.
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In January 2021, Malcolm was charged with assaulting Brown after being accused of infidelity and was hospitalized at CAMH again, this time for 12 days, and diagnosed with amphetamine-induced psychosis.
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A few weeks later, Malcolm called 911 to report that voices told him to kill his 38-year-old husband because he was a demon, according to the Crown.
On Feb. 27, 2021, police found Brownās body in the coupleās blood-spattered Eglinton Ave. W. apartment. Heād suffered more than 30 sharp force injuries, including two that would have been fatal: a stab wound to the chest and an incised wound to the left arm that severed an artery.
Malcolm has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder ā with his defence team expected to argue before Superior Court Justice Heather McArthur that heās not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.
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Testifying for the defence, Dr. Lisa Ramshaw told lawyer Andrea VanderHeydenĀ that her 2023 assessment found Malcolm ālikelyā has an underlying psychotic disorder and itās ālikelyā he did experience psychotic symptoms at the time he allegedly killed his husband.
Dr. Rupert Brown.But the forensic psychiatrist admitted she canāt be definitive in her opinion, especially when Malcolm told her he doesnāt remember the slaying, so there are a lot of āifsā in her conclusion.
āIf he was psychotic and he feared he was going to be killed by his husband, thinking that his husband was a form of a demon, it is likely that he would have been unable to access the moral wrongfulness at the time. Itās an āif, thenā scenario. It is not a firm opinion,ā she explained.
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āBut I canāt tell you, with the information I have, whether that is truly the case.ā
While Ramshaw admitted that sheās canāt offer a firm opinion whether she supports or doesnāt support a finding of NCR, it was clear to her that the accused killer wants to be found not criminally responsible and that could have tailored his answers during his assessment.
āWhen a human being wants something, it will impact his storytelling,ā she said.
Court heard Malcolm was first hospitalized in Jamaica in 2019 after a suicide attempt ā he was depressed over a series of issues: heād graduated with a law degree in 2014 but failed his certification three times, heād contracted HIV and felt his sexual orientation wasnāt accepted. He reported stopping his anti-psychotic medications after coming to Canada in January 2020.
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Crown attorney Brady Donohue grilled the defence expert, suggesting Malcolmās claim about āhearing voicesā on the 911 call and to police is self-serving. He didnāt report hearing voices when he was at CAMH just weeks before the killing and heās only been diagnosed in the past with substance-induced psychosis ā not schizophrenia. She questioned why he wasnāt exhibiting any of those symptoms in his police interview just hours later.
Ramshaw insisted itās ānot that unusualā for psychotic symptoms to disappear and cautioned that she hasnāt diagnosed Malcolm with schizophrenia ā only that she canāt rule it out.
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Donohue pressed her on Malcolmās police interview where heās calm, gives nuanced answers, shows no problems with his memory and knows where he is.
āFrom the interview, from watching it, he doesnāt have any overt psychosis,ā Ramshaw agreed.
Donohue pointed to many times where Malcolm chooses not to answer certain police questions.
āDoesnāt that indicate that heās capable of making a decision?ā the prosecutor asked. āMr. Malcolm could be psychotic and still capable of exercising rational choice.ā
The forensic psychiatrist agreed that appears to be true during his police interview.
āBut that doesnāt necessarily translate to what he was experiencing earlier on with his husband and his beliefs at the time.ā
Ramshaw then repeated that sheās ānot definitiveā about her opinion. āMine is really based on, if he was psychotic and if he truly feared that his husband was Satan.ā
The trial continues.
mmandel@postmedia.com
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