WARNING: This article contains graphic content.

EDMONTON—An Edmonton judge rejected a man’s claim Thursday that he was too insane to be held responsible for stabbing his ex-girlfriend more than 100 times and cutting out her organs, including pinning her heart to a wall with a knife.

Silva Koshwal admitted to the stabbing death and gruesome mutilation of Nadine Skow in August 2015, but his defence lawyer Peter Royal argued Koshwal should not be held criminally responsible for his actions because he was in a psychotic state.

Under the Criminal Code of Canada, a person can’t be held responsible for an act committed while suffering from a mental disorder that makes that person incapable of understanding the nature of the act or appreciating that the act is wrong.

Crown prosecutor Laurie Trahan, however, said the extreme violence Koshwal perpetrated against Skow during and after her death was likely rooted in jealous rage, since Skow had plans to move away without telling Koshwal where she was going.

Court heard conflicting opinions from mental health experts who assessed Koshwal.

Forensic psychologist Leslie Block testified that Koshwal was likely experiencing a psychotic episode in the form of a flashback based on trauma he witnessed as a child in South Sudan, and believed Koshwal should not be found criminally responsible for his actions.

However, forensic psychiatrist Roger Brown said that while he believed Koshwal suffered from depression and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, he found no evidence of psychosis. If he was in a psychotic state at the time of the crime, Brown said, it was more likely due to Koshwal’s abuse of alcohol and crack cocaine in the hours before he walked to Skow’s apartment that night.

Justice Sterling Sanderman ultimately rejected Block’s assessment, saying his belief that Koshwal was suffering psychosis due to childhood trauma in war-torn South Sudan was a “theoretical construct” not supported by evidence.

Sanderman said Block’s assessment of Koshwal was “speculative at best, but misleading at worst.”

Countering Royal’s argument that Koshwal’s barbarism in his frenzied attack on Skow was in itself suggestive of some kind of insanity, Sanderman said the trauma Koshwal reported being exposed to in his childhood served as an example that “humans are capable of committing unimaginable atrocities.”

Civil war in Sudan has caused the death and displacement of millions of people over the span of decades, and has been characterized by horrific human rights violations and mass killings. Koshwal recalled seeing bodies and hearing screams in the night as a child born in what is now South Sudan in 1976.

Sanderman said the defence had not sufficiently proven that Koshwal was in a psychotic state when he killed Skow, and ultimately found him criminally responsible for his convictions of second-degree murder and causing indignity to Skow’s remains.

This means Koshwal will likely serve a lengthy prison sentence.

After the verdict was delivered Thursday, Skow’s family, friends and former colleagues who filled the gallery cried and embraced each other, relieved their four-year battle for justice was over.

“There still is justice,” said Harvey Skow, Nadine Skow’s father.

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Harvey described Nadine Skow as fun-loving, dedicated to her work and a “social butterfly.”

“She called me six times a day, just babbling,” said Harvey.

While relieved Koshwal would be held responsible for Skow’s death, Harvey is still mourning the loss of his daughter.

“It is a big closure,” said Harvey. “But she’s gone.”

Koshwal’s sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled.

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