Hamp was ‘acutely psychotic’ when he killed girlfriend: psychiatrist

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When Thomas Hamp fatally stabbed his girlfriend, he was in the midst of a psychotic delusion that “severely impaired” his ability to appreciate that what he was doing in “the real world” was wrong, a forensic psychiatrist testified.

Dr. Shabehram Lohrasbe concluded that, based on interviews with Hamp and his parents, as well as documents including a text message chain between the victim and Hamp’s parents, Hamp meets the criteria for being found not criminally responsible in the death of 25-year-old Emily Sanche.

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Defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle called Lohrasbe as a witness on Monday at the continuation of Hamp’s second-degree murder trial at Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench.

The judge-alone trial that began last fall was adjourned to give Lohrasbe time to review letters Hamp sent from jail — which Pfefferle said weren’t disclosed to the defence — before including them in his expert report.

On Monday, Lohrasbe testified that Hamp, 28, was “acutely and severely psychotic” when he stabbed Sanche once in the chest in her Greystone Heights condo on Feb. 20, 2022.

To be found not criminally responsible, the defence must prove that an accused person was suffering from a mental disorder at the time the offence was committed.

In both his interview with Lohrasbe and testimony, Hamp said he stabbed himself and Sanche in an attempt to save them from being captured, tortured and killed by secret police who were colluding with his childhood friend to frame him as a pedophile.

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Lohrasbe said Hamp told him he has a vague memory of stabbing himself, but can’t remember stabbing Sanche. He said Hamp reported thinking that the fear of going to the hospital the next day was intertwined with his delusion of an impending threat — that the secret police were surrounding their home.

During acute psychosis, delusions are brought to the forefront of one’s consciousness under some form of stress, Lohrasbe testified. He said it’s impossible to know which disorder brought on those delusions, which heightened in late 2021.

Lohrasbe diagnosed Hamp with Schizophrenic spectrum disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and cannabis use disorder. He said each disorder on its own can be associated with psychosis — which he defined as someone “losing contact with reality.”

He said OCD — which is often mistaken for the more common obsessive compulsive personality disorder — can include frequent “intrusive thoughts” in the form of imagery and urges that start to dominate a person’s life.

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These obsessions can overlap with psychosis and violence, court heard.

Lohrasbe testified that Hamp suffered from paranoid delusions in the form of intrusive thoughts and false memories about having a gun pulled on him, pedophilia rings, familial molestation, castration, and being watched through games on his phone. 

Sanche had been carefully documenting these incidents for months, court heard. The day before she died, she told Hamp’s parents that Hamp had agreed to go to the hospital, and that she would make a detailed timeline of his declining mental health to give to doctors.

Lohrasbe told court that he can’t think of another court case where relevant information about a person’s deteriorating mental health was so “deeply documented.”

Witnesses testified that Sanche and Hamp’s parents had called crisis lines, took him to the hospital for an appointment, and took him to the emergency room twice. Hamp had either convinced doctors that his false memories were true, or doctors concluded he was reacting to a decrease in medication.

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Lohrasbe said Hamp, who was previously diagnosed with OCD, told him that he couldn’t recall when he started taking his prescribed antipsychotic medication, but confirmed he’d stopped for a while before the offence.

Hamp testified that he thought the medication was trying to brainwash him, so he started using cannabis to self-medicate. He said he quit two days before the offence because Sanche worried it was contributing to his delusions.

Lohrasbe said Hamp was “misusing” cannabis, even if he couldn’t remember how much he was using. Young people with pre-existing mental health disorders are commonly drawn to self medicating with cannabis, which can “bring out” their symptoms, he told court.

Hamp’s parents testified that they were working with Sanche to find ways to get their son help without triggering him. They said they believed he only posed a danger to himself.

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According to Lohrasbe, Hamp gave “no clue” that he was capable of violence, and there was no prior history of violence between him and Sanche.

Cross-examination explores “malingering”

During the start of cross-examination Monday afternoon, Bliss floated the theory that Hamp didn’t kill himself because it was never his intention; instead, he stabbed himself in an attempt to make it look like an intruder was involved.

Court heard Hamp initially told police that he and Sanche were attacked by an intruder. Hamp later said he thought the secret police wouldn’t take him away if he lied about what was really happening.

While Lohrasbe agreed that Hamp’s injuries were more serious than Sanche’s, he said it’s not uncommon for an attempted murder-suicide to go awry.

Bliss asked why, in the midst of his psychotic episode, Hamp didn’t attack first responders. Lohrasbe said he doesn’t have an explanation.

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“He said he was very focused on Emily Sanche at that point, and he was not really focusing on anyone else.”

Bliss asked if malingering — when someone tries to fake a mental health disorder in order to avoid criminal responsibility — can occur when an accused person is struggling to come to terms with the crime they’ve committed. 

“Yes,” Lohrasbe said.

He also agreed with Bliss that Hamp’s concern with how he was being perceived can be a “red flag” for malingering, but said “for an intelligent guy who was interested in psychology, it’s not surprising.”

Lohrasbe said Hamp’s claim that he doesn’t remember much about the stabbing could be deception, disassociation or memory suppression, a common experience for people who have experienced a traumatic situation.

Cross-examination will continue on Tuesday.

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