The man accused of stabbing three people at a Vancouver Chinatown festival in 2023 while on leave from a psychiatric hospital has testified that he felt compelled by God to carry out the attack.

Blair Donnelly, who has pleaded not guilty to three counts of aggravated assault at his trial by judge alone at the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver, said Tuesday that when he bought a chisel to carry out the attack he had no particular plan to target Chinese people.

All of the victims were Asian.

"I believe the Holy Spirit was leading me to hurt somebody," he told the court.

"I didn't know if it was one person or others. I didn't know when or where, in the vicinity or not, but I just wandered around the main event looking at different people and different opportunities I might have." 

Donnelly's lawyer Glen Orris had said in opening statements on Tuesday that his client admitted to the stabbings but his state of mind was at issue.

He said Donnelly "was aware of the fact" that what he did at the festival was illegal but he believed he was "being told by God" to carry out the stabbings.

Orris told the court Donnelly had been formally diagnosed with "bipolar disorder, atypical type" and has been living at the psychiatric hospital since 2008, after he was found not criminally responsible for killing his daughter.

British Columbia Review Board documents say Donnelly stabbed the 16-year-old in the neck, back and heart as a result of "his delusional belief that it was his daughter that God wanted him to kill."

Donnelly was on unescorted leave from the B.C. Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam the day of the Sept. 10, 2023, Chinatown attack, which injured two women and a man.

Premier David Eby said afterwards he was "white-hot angry" to find out the suspect was on leave from the hospital.

Donnelly has been carrying a Bible at his trial, which began Monday, but before he testified he affirmed he would tell the truth rather than swearing on the holy book, later citing a verse about oath swearing.

Donnelly testified he had initially planned to bike to a coffee shop in Coquitlam on the day of the attack, but felt "prompted by God to go to Chinatown."

He said he first went to Home Depot and bought a chisel because he "needed something to hurt somebody with."

"I believed I was prompted by God to hurt somebody that day," he said, though he felt unsure why God  wanted him to go to Chinatown.

The Crown presented its entire case on Monday, sharing surveillance video depicting what it said were Donnelly's movements the day of the attack, which included buying the chisel, travelling to Chinatown and stabbing the victims.

Donnelly confirmed those movements on direct examination by his lawyer on Tuesday.

He said he waited for a sign from God telling him not to hurt anyone, but when that did not come, he "carried on and did it," he said.

"Because in my mind, I wanted to obey God," Donnelly said, adding there was "no purpose" for attacking three people.

"It was just a random number," he said, before confirming he had never met or seen any of the victims before.

"I have no animosity toward Chinese people," he said, adding that he only stabbed them once each because he "didn't want to kill them."

"All I understood was to stab them once," he said.

Then, he said, he fled because he knew what he had done was illegal. 

Donnelly earlier testified that he was a "drug dealer, alcoholic, partygoer" when he made a deal with God more than 40 years ago to serve him if he gave him a wife and family. 

He said about three years after he made that deal, he was married and later had two daughters.

Donnelly, who is now 66, said he was 22 when he got involved with religion and it changed his life. 

During questioning of his client, Orris read from a report that explained how his mental illness presented, which Donnelly said he agreed with.

"Symptoms of his illness when active include religious preoccupation and delusional thinking, elevated mood or sleep, agitation, disorganized thinking and disorganized behaviour," Orris read. 

He said incidents of violence "have manifested without clear antecedent signs of illness with more obvious signs of disturbance presenting after the fact."

The history included the killing of Donnelly's daughter.

Donnelly said Tuesday this was prompted by the belief he was being called by God to kill his wife but if he did not, that he would need to kill his entire family "by Christmas time."

When asked why he stabbed his daughter instead of his wife, he struggled to recall his state of mind, taking long pauses between questions. 

"I loved her. I have no idea why I would have done that," he said. 

The B.C. Review Board documents also show Donnelly stabbed a friend while out on a day pass in 2009 and attacked a fellow patient with a butter knife shortly after returning from leave in 2017.

Orris told the court a psychiatrist would be called to testify at the trial next week.

– Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press