FIRST READING: Courts keep deciding that stabbing people doesn’t carry ‘intent to kill’

Advertisement 1 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Breadcrumb Trail Links HomeNP Comment FIRST READING: Courts keep deciding that stabbing people doesn't carry 'intent to kill' Manslaughter is routinely being applied to homicides where an offender shot or stabbed their victim Author of the article: By Tristin Hopper Published Sep 14, 2026 Last updated 17 minutes ago 6 minute read Join the conversation The Peace tower on Parliament Hill is seen behind the justice statue outside the Supreme Court of Canada, in Ottawa in 2016. PHOTO BY ADRIAN WYLD/THE CANADIAN PRESS Article content First Reading is a Canadian politics newsletter curated by the National Post’s own Tristin Hopper. To get an early version sent directly to your inbox, sign up here. Article content TOP STORY Article content RECOMMENDED VIDEOS Article content After an altercation with a man outside a Windsor, Ont., daycare in 2022, 30-year-old Malique Calloo pulled an illegal firearm from his waistband and shot his victim 15 times. Article content In July, a court declared Calloo guilty of manslaughter, meaning that the magazine of bullets he had discharged at his victim at close range had not carried an “intent to kill.” Article content Article content Given the time he’s already spent in pre-trial sentencing, Calloo is expected to be free no later than 2030. Article content Right? The National Post newsletter that doesn’t hold back, giving readers the unvarnished truth on media, politics and culture. Sign Up By signing up, you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Article content More recently, Inderdeep Singh Gosal plunged a knife six times into the torso of 37-year-old father Paul Schmidt at a Vancouver Starbucks. Schmidt had confronted Gosal about vaping in front of his daughter, escalating it to a physical fight following an argument. Article content The case became infamous due to widely circulated cell phone footage of Schmidt stumbling out of the coffee shop and collapsing motionless on the front patio. Article content Again, just last week, a court accepted the defence’s argument that it was manslaughter, not second-degree murder as originally charged. Gosal had stopped taking his schizophrenia medication and had been drinking, so he couldn’t be expected to appreciate that the stabbings would kill Schmidt. The fatal stabbings were an “overreaction due to…