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Toronto Man Who Killed Two Strangers Gets Life With No Parole for 25 Years

The court found the planned shootings showed he understood the moral wrongfulness of his actions.

Overview

  • Ontario Superior Court sentenced Richard Edwin to two concurrent life terms with parole eligibility set for 2047.
  • Justice Jane Kelly rejected a not‑criminally‑responsible defence despite diagnosing schizophrenia, ruling the murders were planned and deliberate.
  • Kartik Vasudev, a 21-year-old Indian student, was shot near Sherbourne subway station on April 7, 2022, and Elijah Mahepath, 35, was killed two days later in downtown Toronto.
  • The judgment pointed to evidence of planning, including Edwin’s admissions, calm conduct, disposal of clothing from both shootings minutes after returning home, and a legally obtained cache of firearms.
  • Under Canadian law, first‑degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with a 25‑year wait before parole, while an NCR ruling would have placed the case under a provincial review board rather than prison.