Senior on trial for murder says spirit told him in a dream to beat up two women
TORONTO — A Toronto senior on trial for murder told a court on Tuesday that a spirit in a dream told him to “beat the crap” out of two fellow residents at a long-term care home, insisting he hadn’t actually intended to harm anyone.
Peter Brooks, now 76, has pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder of 72-year-old Jocelyn Dickson and the attempted murder of 91-year-old Lourdes Missier.
Crown prosecutors have told jurors that late one night in March 2013, Brooks used his cane to attack Dickson and Missier in their beds at the Wexford Residence in Toronto’s east end.
Taking the witness stand in his own defence, Brooks’ testimony was contradictory at times, but he said repeatedly that he had acted on the bidding of a dream.