MANDEL: Alleged female serial killer to get court-ordered mental fitness assessment

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Published Oct 17, 2024  •  3 minute read

Sabrina Kauldhar was arrested Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, in the Burlington area.  She has been charged with murder in connection with separate slayings in Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara Falls. Photo by Handout /Niagara Regional Police

The accused serial killer refused to speak to the psychiatrist in mental health court.

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Sabrina Kauldhar appeared in the prisoner’s box in a lumpy parka, her hair covered as it’s been in previous court appearances in a black nylon do-rag, her face a blank canvas while all around her, so many concerned people in the courtroom discussed the next steps for a woman accused of the shocking murders of three people in three days – two of them complete strangers.

Last week, her proposed defence team – they’re still awaiting a Legal Aid certificate – had first broached the need for a psychiatric assessment to see if she is fit to stand trial. But in court, Sherif Foda explained that his client doesn’t want them to proceed with the application.

It was obvious, though, that he and co-counsel Rick Frank believed it was necessary.

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“Mr. Frank and myself have some fitness concerns,” Foda reiterated.

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After reading the application, Ontario Court Justice Edward Kelly agreed to have the 30-year-old assessed by the doctor assigned to the court that day.

“There are reasonable grounds to doubt the fitness of the accused at this point,” he said.

When all the parties returned a few hours later, Kelly was told Kauldhar had refused to meet with the physician.

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So, the judge has now ordered her to be taken on Nov. 20 to the Brief Assessment Unit at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

“Do you understand?” Kelly asked.

“No,” was her only reply.

Sabrina Kauldhar, 30, second right, is shown in a Toronto court on a second-degree murder charge related to a death in the city, one of the three murder charges she faces in Toronto on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. Photo by Alexandra Newbould /THE CANADIAN PRESS

Kauldhar was arrested in Burlington on Oct. 3 after police alleged their investigations had linked her to the slayings of three people over three days in Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara Falls.

The killing spree allegedly began Oct. 1, when Toronto Police were called to a basement apartment on Keele St. in the Junction and found the body of  66-year-old Trinh Thi Vu with signs of “physical trauma.” Investigators said the dead woman was known to Kauldhar.

They believe her next two alleged victims were not.

On Oct. 2, emergency responders were called to a disturbance at John Allan Park in Niagara Falls. Lance Cunningham, a 47-year-old chef at the Fallsview Casino, had gone to take his dogs for a walk before picking his daughter up from school.

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The loving father, who adored the Pittsburgh Steelers, hiking and his wife of 16 years, was found with critical wounds and died at the scene.

MURDERED: Lance Cunningham, 47, was pronounced dead at the scene. Photo by Handout /Niagara Regional Police

The following day, at about 12:26 p.m., Hamilton Police received a 911 call requesting an ambulance for a man found stabbed in a parking lot. Mario Bilich, a popular 77-year-old retired teacher, was rushed to hospital where he died.

Security footage showed he was followed by a woman after leaving his daily visit to a Sicilian social club.

Niagara Police said that when the suspect description matched in both cases, investigators tied Bilich’s death in Hamilton to Cunningham’s in Niagara Falls and then to the Toronto case.

Kauldhar is charged with first-degree murder in Bilich’s death and second-degree murder in the Toronto and Niagara investigations.

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HAMILTON: Mario Bilich was found with significant injuries consistent with a stabbing. Photo by Handout /Niagara Regional Police

Friends who remember her from growing up in Barrie recall the smart daughter of two dentists who figure skated and played hockey when she was younger and went on to attend the University of Waterloo. And then began a downward spiral.

In 2019, she was charged with assault and breaching probation in Sault Ste. Marie after allegedly walking up to a vehicle near her home and punching the passenger.

“She has a legitimate diagnosed mental illness,” wrote one poster on Reddit. “She cut off contact years ago with her family and refused to take her medication. Her family tried as hard as they could to try to help her get on the right path and to get her the help she needed but there’s only so much you can do after one becomes an adult.”

Kauldhar returns to court in Toronto Nov. 6.

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