Grantham, 24, shot Barbara Wate in the back of the head while playing the piano on March 31, 2020. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in March after being initially charged with first-degree murder. On Monday, the court heard how Grantham had rehearsed the murder and even filmed videos shown in court, including a four-minute clip recorded hours after the murder, in which he confessed to the murder and showed his dead body. . The next day he picked up his car with three weapons, ammunition, 12 Molotov cocktails, camping supplies and a map with instructions for the Rideau Cottage in Ottawa, and began driving east with the idea of ​​assassinating Prime Minister Justin Trindade. Referring to two psychiatric reports, Crown Prosecutor Michaela Donnelly said there was a consensus that Grantham was going through a period of intense clinical depression in the months leading up to the murder, while maintaining the outward appearance that he was functioning well. He also experienced urges to commit violence and suicide, along with escalating feelings of hatred and guilt for his mother, probably learning that he had stopped attending classes at Simon Fraser University. Both reports indicated he had a cannabis use disorder. Reports say Grantham decided to kill his mother to save her from seeing the violence he intended to commit. Donnelly said, while this may seem altruistic in motive, Waite’s murder was a deeply selfish act. “Mr. Grantham was trying to save his mother from something he was going to do … This is something different from altruism,” Donelli said.

“A heartbreaking breach of trust”

Presenting the aggravating circumstances, Donnelly claimed that by killing Waite, Grantham had committed a “heartbreaking breach of trust”. “Barbara Waite loved her son very much, he was a great parent and in her mind she had no reason to fear him,” Donnelly said. Donnelly argued that the use of a firearm required a significant complaint in the conviction, noting that Grantham was an experienced firearm user and former member of the gun club. He stressed that in the months leading up to the murder, he bought a new weapon, although he knew his struggles with his urges to commit violence and murder.
Donnelly said the circumstances of the case were closer to first-degree murder than homicide because, on the day of the murder, he was more likely to reconsider as he loaded and unloaded the 0.22 caliber rifle and then sat down on the mansion stairs for almost 15 minutes, deciding what to do. Grantham left Squamish the day after the murder with his mother’s body still lying there, intending to drive 50 hours to Ottawa to kill Justin Trudeau. Before leaving, he tested a Molotov cocktail in a remote area. He drove to Hope before returning with the thought of committing an act of mass violence in SFU or other locations. He turned himself in to Vancouver police that night. Grantham has starred in film and television since he was nine years old. His titles include TV series shot in BC, including Riverdale, Supernatural and iZombie, and the films Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. The second-degree murder is accompanied by an automatic sentence of life imprisonment. The Crown demands 17 to 18 years of ineligibility. The hearing is expected to conclude on Wednesday after the defense statements.