Closing arguments focus on intent at Penetanguishene man's murder trial

Warning: Some readers may find the details in this article disturbing.

Following more than four weeks of court proceedings, the Crown and defence delivered closing arguments in the first-degree murder trial of a Penetanguishene man charged with killing his father.

In a Barrie courtroom Tuesday, Crown attorney Dennis Chronopoulos described Brad McKee, now 31, as a troubled man with a history of mental illness and drug abuse who tried to confine his parents to their bedroom before taking his father's life on the night of Feb. 11, 2019.

Chronopoulos told the court McKee's mother, Anna, escaped to a neighbour's home to call 911 while her husband, Bill, was stabbed with a hunting knife in an ensuite bathroom.

He said McKee told his parents, "It's time to kill you," and "nobody is leaving this room."

The Crown said both Anna and Bill had to hand their phones over to their son so they couldn't call the police.

He described to the jury how McKee killed his father with a single stab wound to the neck, severing his carotid artery and jugular vein.

When his mother returned home from the neighbour's, the Crown said she found her son stabbing himself in the neck and saying he didn't mean it.

After officers arrived, the court heard McKee instructed them to shoot him because he wanted to die.

When the defence addressed the court, it painted a more sympathetic picture of McKee and a desperate family struggling to care for its mentally-ill son.

Defence lawyer Mary Cremer said McKee feared that if the police were called to the home, he would be arrested and taken to the hospital, adding her client didn't mean for his father to die.

"There was never the intention to kill," Cremer said.

She noted McKee's mental health was steadily declining, fueled by delusions and paranoia, and he believed his parents were spying on him, controlling and ruining his life.

The defence pointed to McKee's several suicide attempts, over a dozen overdoses, and misuse of prescriptions, heroin, and other drugs, telling the court the world had become a scary place for him.

McKee's lawyer argued he never forcibly confined his parents and did not commit first-degree murder, asking the jury to consider a lesser charge of manslaughter.

Closing submissions will continue on Wednesday when Justice Vanessa Christie is expected to instruct the members of the jury to consider McKee's fate.