A Courtenay man charged with second-degree murder in the stabbing death of his mother has been found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder caused by extremely high blood pressure.
Anousone Chang was accused of killing his 80-year-old mother, Nong Chang on March 6, 2022, in the Courtenay home they shared with his younger brother and sister-in-law.
In his oral reasons, Justice Frits E. Verhoeven said Chang was assessed by two forensic psychiatrists who determined he was incapable of knowing what he was doing was wrong in the moment of his mother’s death.
“What is, it might be said, remarkable is that there was really nothing remarkable about the time leading up to the incident in question. No one noticed anything amiss,” Verhoeven said.
Chang was 55 at the time and had no criminal history.
According to his brother, Anousack Chang, he had a good relationship with his mother and had never shown hostility to a family member, Verhoeven said.
Anousone Chang had complications at birth due to a lack of oxygen, and, though he speaks both English and Laotian, he is not fluent in either and struggles to express himself, Verhoeven said in his ruling.
The day before his mother’s death, Chang worked his job at a grocery store and his brother noticed nothing notable about his behaviour.
In the early morning of March 6, 2022, Anousack Chang’s wife woke to her mother-in-law’s screams. She woke her husband, who went upstairs and found his brother standing over their mother in her bed, striking her with his right hand.
Chang was speaking gibberish and was not responsive to his brother.
“He seemed like a man possessed or in a dream. He was uttering the words, ‘I don’t care,’ ” Verhoeven said, repeating a statement given by Anousack Chang.
Chang stabbed his mother to death with a knife he had acquired a few months before.
“There is no real explanation as to what he might have been thinking or what kind of delusion or psychotic state might have caused the actual actions that took place,” Verhoeven said.
Chang has no memory of his mother’s death.
When paramedics arrived, they saw no aggression in Chang’s behaviour. Instead, he appeared dazed, as if in a trance.
Chang’s bizarre behaviour continued after he was arrested and taken to the RCMP detachment, where he was observed repeatedly filling up a cup with water, drinking it until he vomited, and then filling the cup again.
He chewed on a roll of toilet paper, studied a toilet bowl for a prolonged time and lay prone on the police station floor, at times with his pants down, Verhoeven said.
Strange behaviour continued when he was taken to Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre, before being transferred to hospital.
His blood pressure and pulse were noted to be very high and doctors initially suggested he was suffering from “agitated delirium.”
Chang received blood-pressure medication and his behaviour improved.
A doctor diagnosed posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, a neurological condition that presents with visual disturbances and an altered state.
Chang was transferred back to jail, where he has remained. His behaviour there over the past two and a half years has been described as “polite, co-operative and calm,” Verhoeven said.
A psychiatrist who assessed Chang said he was suffering from delirium due to “hypertensive crisis,” or a sudden and severe increase in blood pressure. He noted the delirium resolved within a few days.
“It’s likely that due to his disturbed consciousness, he was not able to assess the moral and legal wrongfulness of his actions, and he likely acted impulsively based on what he perceived was happening around him at the time,” Verhoeven said, reading from the doctor’s opinion.
Chang was diagnosed with high blood pressure in 2012 and had experienced a similar incident in 2015 that resulted in a hospital stay. He presented with low blood pressure and seemed confused and agitated, so much so that he had to be restrained.
In finding Chang not criminally responsible, Verhoeven ordered that Chang be held at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam pending a final determination by the review board. The judge also ordered a risk assessment and a DNA sample to be given by Chang.
Nong Chang and her husband, Keo Chang, who died of a heart attack in 2021, immigrated with their three sons from Laos.
“A loving and beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend, Nong was known for her hard-working nature, her kindness, and the way her smile lit up her whole face,” an obituary says.
“Nong’s loving and forgiving nature as well as her commitment to others will continue through all who had the blessing to know her, especially her family.”
