Friday, September 24, 2010
TORONTO - The man on trial for pushing two kids in front of a Toronto subway train grew up having sex with his brother and farm animals, a psychiatrist testified Tuesday.
Incest and bestiality were just part of Adenir De Oliveira's bizarre upbringing, which also exposed him to a jealous father who used to stalk his mother from the bushes, Dr. Julian Gojer told a Toronto courtroom.
De Oliveira's lawyer, Ian Kostman, doesn't dispute the fact that the 49-year-old man pushed two kids - 14 and 15 years old at the time -- onto the tracks at Dufferin station on Feb. 13, 2009, and tried to push a third, but claims he was not criminally responsible for the crime.
During De Oliveira's adolescent years, "he and his brother were engaging in sex with themselves and horses and cows on the farm," Gojer said, testifying on behalf of the defence.
"You have to ask yourself what would prompt someone to have sex with farm animals," Gojer said. "There seems to be psychopathology that runs in this family from both sides, from sisters, his brother, father. It's a very disturbed family."
Prior to the shoving the kids, De Oliveira spent much of that day sitting in the food court of Dufferin Mall, drinking coffee, eating Chinese food and having suicidal and homicidal thoughts that were so strong, they felt like "an echo," Gojer told the court.
Though initially intent on going home, by the time he arrived at Dufferin subway station and saw three boys standing on the platform, the only thoughts he had were "push or jump," he testified.
Two of the teens fell to the tracks, narrowly escaping death by rolling under the lip of the platform, while the third regained his balance and didn't fall. Then De Oliveira ran, assaulting three people who tried to stop him until police found him sitting on a rock outside the Pizza Hut back at Dufferin Mall.
De Oliveira's actions were evident of psychotic symptoms that were "part and parcel" to his history of depression. He suffered from "a major depressive disorder at the time of the offence with psychotic features," Gojer said.
Gojer described De Oliveira as a "walking time-bomb" between fall 2008 and February 2009 -- a man who was "constantly seeking out help" from medical professionals and who laid down on the subway tracks at Ossington station weeks before the attack.
The bizarre behaviour continued after the attack.
A note made by a Don Jail officer and read out by Kostman in court described an incident in which De Oliveira was "nude and dancing on his bed, also on top of the toilet," and not responding to a staff member's voice.
De Oliveira also expressed beliefs that jail guards wanted to "rape and burn and kill him," Gojer said.
A note written by a nurse at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health described an incident in which De Oliveira was being interviewed by a staff psychiatrist when he began to leave the interview room, stated his "mind is heavy," and walked to his bedroom. After yelling and banging was heard from De Oliveira's room, he was found on the window sill, kicking the window and yelling. Once placed on the bed, he cried, hit himself on the head and said he was having suicidal thoughts, the note said.
"It's unfortunate that Mr. De Oliveira suffered from his depression for that long, whereas it could have been treated much earlier," Gojer said. "At one point, if his depression had worsened, it is conceivable that he would have even attacked (his common-law wife)."
Gojer said he found no evidence that De Oliveira was faking or exaggerating his symptoms.
De Oliveira's mental illness would have affected his thinking, perception, emotions, actions and judgment, Gojer said.
Cross-examination of Gojer is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.
From: http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/News/national/2010/09/21/15431926.html
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