In a downtown Toronto courtroom Wednesday, Devret Clarke spoke about what prompted him to shoot Gars Kourjakian as he was getting out of his vehicle with his four-year-old daughter more than two years ago.
Kourjakian was a former neighbour of Clarke’s, who lived one storey above him in an apartment building on Birchmount Road, near Sheppard Avenue.
Clarke testified he felt his life and the life of his great-nephew were being threatened and the shooting was a last resort. He explained he self-published more than 30 books before Kourjakian was killed to leave a message of truth and to give clarity to the family for why his actions were justified.
“Because of the steps I’ve taken: speaking to the individual, trying to get clarity, speaking to police, going to hospital,” Clarke said in a rambling speech on Wednesday.
“It’s somebody trying to take my life. I can’t have kids. I love kids, but before I put anybody else’s life in danger and allow my nieces and nephews to be put in danger, I need to end it, right now, those threats.”
Clarke is on trial for first-degree murder. His lawyers are arguing he should be found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder because he was suffering from untreated schizophrenia at the time and was in an active psychotic state. The Crown contests that Clarke should be found NCR.
According to an agreed statement of facts, it was Dec. 30, 2022, at 5:20 p.m. when Clarke followed Kourjakian vehicle into the underground parkade on Toronto’s Birchmount Road. Kourjakian made his way to his parking spot and exited his vehicle.
While helping his daughter outside, Clarke’s vehicle pulled up beside him. Gunshots were fired from inside the car and Kourjakian was struck by a bullet. The 34-year-old was wounded once in the right side of his neck and died from his injuries at the scene.
Kourjakian’s daughter retrieved her father’s cellphone immediately after he was shot and called her mother and told her that her dad was dead. The child was located in the parking lot, unharmed, by residents of the building with her father’s blood on her hands and clothing. Residents of the building took the little girl to an apartment until police arrived.
Clarke testified he had been harassed by tenants for three years, including Kourjakian, until he moved out on May 31, 2021. Clarke testified that even after moving out, he believed he was being attacked by fellow tenants, fearing for his own safety and the safety of his nephew.
In October 2021, Clarke became a registered firearm owner after obtaining a licence to possess restricted and non-restricted firearms. On Nov. 3, he applied to purchase three handguns. The transaction was approved on Dec. 21, 2021, and the firearms were shipped to him the following day. Clarke claimed the handguns were purchased for target practice purposes.
When police executed a search warrant in the townhouse Clarke shared with his brother and great nephew nine days after Kourjakian was killed, they located a cache of weapons including three handguns, two shotguns and ammunition inside Clarke’s bedroom in a locked gun cabinet. It’s admitted that one of the handguns seized was used to shoot Kourjakian.
“I’m going through the struggle of someone tormenting me 24/7. A lot of people think it’s demons, sorcery. Just because we don’t see it, doesn’t mean these things aren’t happening,” Clarke told Superior Court Justice Maureen Forestell, who is presiding over the judge-alone trial.
According to the facts, Clarke made repeated complaints to building management when he lived at the Birchmount Road building. Most of his complaints involved allegations that various neighbours were hitting his walls and floors late at night and early in the morning to wake him up. He also believed they were tampering with his laundry, making racist comments about him and spreading rumours about him.
Management investigated his complaints, including reviewing video surveillance, and found no evidence to support Clarke’s allegations. Clarke then personally confronted some of the residents with his allegations and was told to stop. Kourjakian complained to building management about Clarke confronting him and his family about allegations of excessive noise.
Clark stopped complaining to the building in February 2020 and started calling the police instead. He made nine separate complaints in February and March of that year, including complaints that he was being harassed, and said there were a lot of demonic things happening. He claimed the people doing this to him were telepathic including the Kourjakians.
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He also sent emails to a local police division in March and April 2020, alleging the various issues his neighbours were causing him. He claimed they were speaking to his mind directly with some sort of recording device or something demonic. He emphasized repeatedly that while it sounds crazy, he was sane. No one was arrested or charged with respect to any of the complaints to police.
Clarke moved out of the Birchmount Road building on May 31, 2021, and there were no further complaints to police.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Lisa Ramshaw who met with Clarke and authored a report pursuant to a court order testified that it is evident that Clarke was suffering from untreated schizophrenia and was likely experiencing active psychosis at the time of the shooting. Ramshaw said that the symptoms included auditory hallucinations and delusions which began around 2019 or 2020. She said that Clarke had experienced those symptoms over time and they were ongoing.
“Hearing a voice even though nobody is there is nobody present, as though that voice is real,” Ramshaw explained. She said Clarke does not believe he has a mental illness and cannot distinguish between what is real and his own experience.
Ramshaw concluded she supports the potential of a not criminally responsible defence because, while he acknowledged that shooting someone is illegal, Clarke was likely unable to know the moral wrongfulness of his actions.
“I asked him about his book War of Words, for example, and gave him a specific quote. He said anything he had written was an expression of his anger. He felt he was a target and his life was in danger,” Ramshaw said, adding Clarke was, “very much motivated by his psychotic beliefs”.
The psychiatrist was asked to explain the threat he felt and what changed on Dec. 30, 2022.
“He talked about this increased threat towards his nephew and believing his nephew’s heart was being manipulated and the threats of harm or death to his nephew,” Ramshaw said.
“He believed the Birchmount residents and 100 per cent the victim had the voice and were involved in the threats and the potential danger to him and his nephew.”
“He said it happened for years and said it continued to happen after he left Birchmount and he said it in court. He felt he could not go on for the next year. He did not want it to go on into 2023,” Ramshaw added.
The trial continues.
