A man accused of murder in a fatal stabbing at a Vancouver Starbucks has been called to testify at his trial after his defence lawyer argued he was suffering from a mental illness on the day of the killing.

Inderdeep Singh Gosal, 34, pleaded not guilty last month to the second-degree murder of Paul Schmidt, who was stabbed on the patio of the cafe on March 26, 2023.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 1130 NEWSRADIO VANCOUVER LIVE!

His lawyer, Gloria Ng, told the court in her opening statement that her client suffers from psychosis and schizophrenia and while he had been prescribed medication for those conditions, he had stopped taking it in January 2023.

She says the defence will show through the testimony of Gosal and a psychiatrist that her client did not intend to kill Schmidt and, while he meant to cause harm, he did not have the mental capacity to understand that his actions would cause death.

Ng says Gosal, who attended court on Tuesday wearing a navy sweater over a white collared shirt, should therefore be found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Crown prosecutor Karin Blok had told the first day of the judge-alone trial last month that the “primary issue” was intent and whether it could be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Gosal intended to cause Schmidt bodily harm that he knew was likely to cause death.

CCTV footage was shown in court on Feb. 10, showing a verbal confrontation between the two men that turned physical when Schmidt approached Gosal, who was smoking something near the Starbucks entrance.

The altercation left Schmidt lying in a pool of blood after being stabbed six times in the chest.

Footage of the stabbing was widely shared on social media in the days that followed.