The Calgary man who stabbed to death five college students at a house party is not criminally responsible for the crimes because he was mentally ill, the Crown prosecutor in the case said Tuesday.Matthew de Grood, 24, has admitted he killed Lawrence Hong, 27, Joshua Hunter, 23, Jordan Segura, 22, Kaitlin Perras, 23, and Zackariah Rathwell, 21, but according to an agreed statement of facts and testimony from psychiatrists who spoke to him after the stabbings, he believed the world was ending and that he was killing werewolves and vampires.De Grood pleaded not guilty to first degree murder. His defence lawyer Allan Fay argued de Grood is not criminally responsible for the crimes because he was having a mental breakdown at the time they were committed. During closing remarks Tuesday, Crown attorney Neil Wiberg agreed with that conclusion."I agree the accused was suffering a psychosis," he said, but noted that de Grood carried out the crimes like a "killing machine."The court heard from two psychiatrists and a psychologist who all testified de Grood was psychotic when he carried out the stabbings at a house party in April 2014.The judge has reserved making a decision until Wednesday. If found not criminally responsible, de Grood could be sentenced to time in a psychiatric institution. Vince Li, the man who was found not criminally responsible for beheading a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus in 2009, spent seven years in a mental health institution and later a group home before being approved in February to eventually live alone.Wilberg has said he's waiting for the judge's decision before revealing whether or not he will seek a "high risk" designation for de Grood.Canadian Press photoFollow Manisha Krishnan on Twitter.
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