Toronto man who killed mom sentenced to life with no parole for 11 years
· Toronto Sun
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Colin Hatcher has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 11 years for the gruesome murder of an “exceptional woman”: his mother Kathleen.
“Your mother … gave birth to you, nursed you, cared for you when you were a child, encouraged and supported you even during the rough patches of your teens, took pride and joy in your accomplishments and never turned her back on you when you became ill and a danger to her and the family,” said Superior Court Justice Sean Nakatsuru.
“She trusted you even when there was good reason not to. You betrayed that trust,” Nakatsuru said.
In April, Nakatsuru rejected Hatcher’s claim that he was not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder and convicted him of second-degree murder. He accepted that the man was suffering from schizophrenia, but found he knew that slashing his mother to death in King’s Mill Park was morally wrong. Still, the judge considered it a mitigating factor in sentencing.
“Your serious mental illness played a very big role in this crime,” Nakatsuru said.
He was also encouraged by Hatcher’s willingness to take injectable anti-psychotic medication, his professed insight into his crime and the support of his father, but cautioned that the killer has a long history of mental illness with entrenched delusions about his family, some of whom still fear him.
Mom tried to help son
On Feb. 26, 2021, Hatcher’s 69-year-old mother agreed to meet him in the Etobicoke park despite concerns for her safety: the devoted grandmother and quilter who’d recently retired from the Toronto District School Board had spent years trying to get help for her delusional son who’d often threatened to kill her and other family members.
Hatcher told a forensic psychiatrist that during their walk, a voice suddenly commanded him, “Stab her, stab her, stab her.”
His mother sustained seven separate wounds to her head, face and neck and defensive wounds to her hands in the frenzied attack. The “sharp edged instrument” used by her 38-year-old son was never identified or found.
The Crown sought 15 years of parole ineligibility; the defence argued for 10.
Nakatsuru found that due to Hatcher’s severe mental illness, he would set it at the lower end and urged him to become “someone other than the killer that you are” and take his place back in society.
“The path to that is long. And will take work. Every day. Over many months. Indeed, over long years,” Nakatsuru said.