Court hears B.C. actor killed mother to spare her from seeing the violence he intended to commit
The sentencing listening to for Ryan Grantham continued Tuesday in B.C. Supreme Court docket with submissions from the Crown concerning the younger actor’s psychological state and behavior earlier than and after he killed his 64-year-old mom of their Squamish townhouse.
Grantham, 24, shot Barbara Waite behind the top as she performed piano on March 31, 2020. He pleaded responsible to second-degree homicide in March after initially being charged with first-degree homicide.
On Monday, the courtroom heard how Grantham had rehearsed the killing and even taken movies which have been proven in courtroom, together with a four-minute section captured within the hours after the killing during which he confesses to the homicide and reveals his mom’s lifeless physique.
The subsequent day he packed his automobile with three weapons, ammunition, 12 Molotov cocktails, tenting provides and a map with instructions to Rideau Cottage in Ottawa and began driving east with the notion of killing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Referencing two psychiatric studies, Crown prosecutor Michaela Donnelly mentioned there was consensus Grantham was going via an intense interval of scientific melancholy within the months main as much as the homicide whereas sustaining an outward look of being nicely functioning.
He additionally was experiencing urges to commit violence and kill himself, together with escalating emotions of self-hatred and guilt over his mom, doubtlessly studying he had stopped attending courses at Simon Fraser College. Each studies mentioned he had a hashish use dysfunction.
The studies say Grantham determined to kill his mom to spare her from seeing the violence he supposed to commit.
Donnelly mentioned whereas which will appear altruistic in motive, murdering Waite was a profoundly egocentric act.
“Mr. Grantham was in search of to avoid wasting his mom from one thing he was going to do … That’s one thing completely different than altruism,” mentioned Donnelly.
‘Heartbreaking breach of belief’
In presenting aggravating circumstances, Donnelly submitted that, in killing Waite, Grantham dedicated a “heartbreaking breach of belief.”
“Barbara Waite cherished her son very a lot, was a wonderful mum or dad and in her thoughts had no purpose to worry him,” mentioned Donnelly.
Donnelly argued that using a gun requires vital denunciation in sentencing, noting that Grantham was an skilled gun consumer and former gun membership member. She highlighted that within the months main as much as the murder, he purchased a brand new gun regardless that he was conscious of his struggles with urges to commit violence and killings.
Donnelly mentioned the circumstances of the case have been nearer to first-degree homicide than manslaughter as a result of, on the day of the homicide, he had many possibilities to rethink as he loaded and unloaded his .22 calibre rifle after which sat on the steps of the townhouse for nearly quarter-hour, deciding what to do.
Grantham left Squamish the day after the homicide together with his mom’s physique nonetheless the place it had fallen, aspiring to drive 50 hours to Ottawa to kill Justin Trudeau. Earlier than he left, he examined a Molotov cocktail in a distant space.
He drove as far as Hope earlier than turning round with ideas he would as an alternative commit an act of mass violence at SFU or different places. That evening he turned himself in to Vancouver police.
Grantham has acted in movie and tv since he was 9 years previous. His credit embody B.C.-filmed TV sequence, together with Riverdale, Supernatural and iZombie, and the movies Diary of a Wimpy Child and The Imaginarium of Physician Parnassus.
Second-degree homicide comes with an automated life sentence. The Crown is asking for 17 to 18 years of parole ineligibility.
The listening to is anticipated to wrap up Wednesday after submissions from the defence.
