Nearly three years after Lynette and Francis (Frank) Sequeira were found dead in their Scarborough home, their son Kyle Sequeira has admitted to killing his parents but denies he is guilty of two counts of second-degree murder, arguing he is not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.
According to an agreed statement of facts read out in court on the opening day of the judge-alone trial, two days after Lynette and Frank were discovered dead after a violent assault, a preliminary hearing on an unrelated attempted murder charge Kyle was facing was set to begin. Kyle was charged with stabbing a friend 13 times in June 2019. Kyle’s parents were anticipated to be Crown witnesses.
Between 6:30 a.m. and 6:45 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 5, 2021, court heard that Kyle sent a text message to a friend named Johanna McLeod that said “urgent, call me ASAP.” He also messaged her via Instagram but she didn’t read the message until approximately 9 a.m. to 9:15 am. McLeod called Kyle but he didn’t answer.
When he called her back on an audio and video call a short time later, he seemed panicked and said, “I don’t know who else to call, you’re the only one that I can call. Can you come pick me up? My parents are dead. My sureties are dead. Can you come and get me.”
McLeod refused, noting she was not permitted to have contact with him.
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The facts state Kyle had been arrested on Aug. 13, 2021, after his mother called police. Lynette requested that McLeod be removed from the home because McLeod was arguing with her son and Lynette no longer wanted her there.
Officers attended the home and Kyle was accused of striking a police officer multiple times when she tried to handcuff him and of striking another police officer during the struggle.
Kyle was charged in relation to that incident and released on house arrest bail with his two parents and with conditions to not possess any weapons nor have any contact with McLeod, except for court appearances.
On the night that the bodies of Lynette and Frank were discovered, a co-worker from the Scarborough Golf Club where Frank worked as a restaurant supervisor went by the home at 15 Pin Lane with a colleague to check on his friend. Kyle eventually opened the doorway partway. The colleague advised Kyle he was from the golf club and was looking for Frank because he had not shown up for work and co-workers were concerned. When asked to confirm that Frank lived there, Kyle said, “No, Frank does not live here.”
The co-worker described Kyle as being confused and timid, so not wanting to cause any issues, he apologized and noted he must have the wrong home. After a bizarre exchange that lasted for one to two minutes, the co-worker dropped his colleague back off at the golf club and called the police.
When officers arrived to check on Frank’s well-being at 11:34 p.m., officers determined there were sufficient grounds to enter the home, breached the front door and began to search the house.
When they reached the basement, they found a locked door. They gave commands for the door to be opened, but when no one complied, an officer kicked the door open and found Kyle lying on the bed. When they instructed him to come out and he didn’t comply, he was arrested without incident and provided his rights to counsel.
Officers continued to search the house, where they found Frank and Lynette dead on the third floor.
Lynette, 65, was found on the floor next to the bed in the master bedroom lying on her back. She had blankets over her body and a pillow over her face. She had substantial trauma to her face, head and arms. Two teeth were found next to her body.
Frank, 68, was found lying on his back in the walk-in closet of the master bedroom. He was covered with blankets, his face showing. There was visible trauma to his face, extremities and torso.
Officers conducted a thorough search of the house. They found a knife with a 17.5-centimetre blade and black handle in the laundry room and a red carbon fibre Calloway golf club was also found broken in two pieces in the laundry basket. The handle of a knife without a blade was taped to the end of the broken golf club. Blood stains were found on the end of the golf club. Frank and Lynette could not be excluded as the source of the DNA from the blood.
Autopsies revealed Lynette’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and face. Frank’s cause of death was determined to be multiple trauma. He had multiple penetrating injuries, including on his genitalia.
Dr. Derek Pollandi, a forensic psychiatrist for the defence, testified he met with Kyle on three occasions after his arrest and concluded he was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the killings and was unable to understand the wrongfulness of his behaviours.
While Pollandi acknowledged that Kyle was angry with his parents for calling the police when he was on house arrest on the attempted murder charge, he quoted from his report where he wrote: “When asked specifically to attempt to recall his actions on the day, he stated, ‘I don’t remember much. I was using a golf club.’”
Pallandi said Kyle said his parents “called police on me. I didn’t even want to do it but some voices in my head told me to do it so I just did.”
During cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Dimitra Tsagaris asked Pallandi if it was possible Kyle was just angry that his parents had betrayed him by calling the police and the rage had built up. Pallandi said it was possible but believed the driving factor would be the mental disorder at the time of the killing and believed he was displaying psychotic symptoms at the time.
Court heard that Kyle is now on anti-psychotic medication that was prescribed to him by a staff psychiatrist at the jail after he was in police custody but prior to that, he never received any psychiatric treatment.
The Crown is expected to call a forensic psychiatrist later this week who is expected to testify that Kyle appreciated that what he did was wrong when he killed his parents.
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