A judge in a Barrie court ruled Thursday that Mark Dobson is criminally responsible for the first-degree murders of Helen Dorrington, 52, and 32-year-old Mary Hepburn. Dobson cut the throats of the two women in a Barrie motel in May 2012 in a Satanic suicide pact.

Dobson, 24, claimed he was under orders from the gods of Hell when he killed the women so they could go to another planet and on to paradise. Dobson failed to kill himself though and was arrested in a blood-soaked room at the TraveLodge on Bayfield Street.

Dobson’s defence lawyer Mitch Eisen claimed he was unable to appreciate the significance of the acts because he suffers from schizophrenia and argued his client was not criminally responsible.

However, Justice J.A Watt rejected that claim and found Dobson guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, which carries an automatic life sentence without chance of parole until 25 years.

“Nothing supports that Mark Dobson did not appreciate that he was cutting the throats of Helen Dorrington and Mary Hepburn. That was his very purpose,” Watt said.

Watt agreed Dobson has likely been suffering from schizophrenia for years, but determined he knew and appreciated the murders were against the law and morally wrong.

“The existence of a mental disorder does not (excuse) anyone from criminal responsibility,’ Watt said in his ruling. “It’s only if it renders the person incapable of knowing the act was wrong.”

Watt said evidence throughout the trial showed Dobson himself understood the significance of his crimes when he made admissions to paramedics, hospital staff and ultimately a Barrie police detective.

“In a police interview he said it didn’t matter what happened to him. He said he thought he’d get the death penalty or life in prison. He was willing to accept that. Mark Dobson said: ‘I’ll be looked at as a monster. I know that.’”

At one point after his arrest, Dobson was asked by a psychiatrist if he would have carried out the murders if there was a police officer standing in the room.

“Mark Dobson said he would have waited because the officer would have seen it as murder,” Watt said.

Watt also noted that Dobson had mentioned on more than one occasion that he would prefer to be found not criminally responsible so he would go to a psychiatric hospital instead of prison.

Watt added Dobson’s claim that he was delusional and was experiencing hallucinations during the “gruesome” homicides can only be proven by Dobson himself.

“His accounts of that state have been inconsistent,” Watt said. “At times he overstated his symptoms during (psychiatric testing). He is a self-interested and suspect source.”

Dobson sat passively in the prisoner’s box throughout Watt’s ruling and showed no emotion when the judge ruled he would be going to prison.

Watt said the murders were planned well in advance during a satanic suicide pact the three conjured up that included the plan to carry out the pact in a hotel room.

Evidence throughout the trial, showed Dorrington and Hepburn suffered from depression and anxiety.

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Dobson, originally from British Columbia, met the women through a website called Joy of Satan.

Dobson ended up living with Hepburn in Barrie and Dorrington travelled from Alberta to carry out the suicide pact with them.