Another psychiatrist had hard time diagnosing Kachkar

A forensic psychiatrist testifying on behalf of the defence says he also had a hard time diagnosing Richard Kachkar, who struck and killed a Toronto police officer with a stolen snowplow two years ago.

Dr. John Bradford was one of several doctors who the court heard had difficulty diagnosing the defendant.

Kachkar’s state of mind is the cornerstone of the trial, with the jury having to determine whether he’s criminally responsible for Sgt. Ryan Russell’s death on Jan. 12, 2011, or whether he was suffering from a mental illness and couldn’t fully comprehend the consequences of his actions. He has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

On Monday, Dr. John Bradford said he saw Kachkar for about 5.5 hours following Russell’s death and had him admitted for 60 days at the Brockville Mental Health Centre so he could further assess him.

Some people do fit into one psychotic disorder or another, but in Kachkar’s case, “I struggled a little bit with his diagnosis.”

“He didn’t fit all the boxes of schizophrenia,” Dr. Bradford said. “He could fit the [sub] category of simple schizophrenia” or disorganized schizophrenia.

While he didn’t fall into the schizophrenia classification completely, “it doesn’t mean he wasn’t psychotic at the time,” he said.

Dr. Bradford said Kachkar told him he had “some sketchy memories of what happened.” He didn’t remember hitting the officer but he remembered “driving back and forth and feeling scared, being chased.” He also remembered “someone getting out of the car and shooting” but he didn’t know if he was being shot at.

When asked if he thought Kachkar’s actions were those of someone who was schizophrenic, Dr. Bradford answered, “It was an acute stage of that condition, behaviour driven by something unknown, the rest of the unfortunate events flowed from that.”

Dr. Bradford testified that he believed that Kachkar was psychotic prior to and during the alleged offence.

He also said that Kachkar’s biological father sounds like he had a history of simple schizophrenia or disorganized schizophrenia, which would increase the son’s odds of having the disorder.

Last month, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Philip Klassen told the court Kachkar’s symptoms do not fit neatly into any one category.

Dr. Klassen said if he had to offer a diagnosis it would be either an unspecified psychotic disorder or possibly schizophrenia.

He added that he thought Kachkar was exaggerating his reported amnesia surrounding Russell’s death and questioned how often he was reporting symptoms of sadness and depression.

The Crown challenged Dr. Klassen’s assessment even raising the possibility that Kachkar was trying to commit suicide by forcing police to shoot him — death by cop as it’s known.

But Dr. Klassen stood by his original diagnosis.

With files from Christine Chubb