Michael Calvo sat with his head down as the family of his late girlfriend spoke about how his “monstrous violence” has left them devastated.
“There is nothing joyous about a lack of criminal responsibility when the victim was stabbed to death,” Ana Paula Kitterhing De Sousa’s daughter Raquel Almeida Margulies told court, reading from her victim impact statement.
“Stabbed by someone she trusted, cared for, and even loved. Stabbed by someone for whom she would accept even the strangest parts about. Stabbed 26 times. I would now like us to take 26 seconds of silence and reflect on that for a brief moment,” said Marguiles, as two dozen friends and family members stood in the courtroom for 26 seconds of silence.
“I assume that despite your mental illness that there is a part of you that knows that what you did is wrong. I’m not sure how deep or accessible the reasonable part of your conscience exists, but I know it does,” Marguiles said looking at Calvo.
The victim impact statements came at the end of an uncontested not criminally responsible (NCR) hearing, which began with Calvo admitting to killing his girlfriend on Oct. 15, 2023.
Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly agreed with the opinions of two forensic psychiatrists who found that Calvo, who was suffering from a major mental illness, was incapable of making rational choices.
“While he appreciated the nature and quality of his actions, he was unable to access the wrongfulness of his actions due to his delusional beliefs,” Kelly told the court.
Calvo admitted to stabbing De Costa, his intermittent intimate partner of about one year, on Oct. 15, 2023 inside his Chambers Avenue home.
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After fleeing the scene, Calvo approached three strangers on Davenport near Old Weston Road, who noticed him because he was yelling very loudly.
Calvo spoke to them in Portugese and asked them for water, a car, and a cell phone. He told them he needed help because he was running away and he had just killed a woman. He asked one of the strangers to call police.
Body camera video from two police officers who arrived on scene and arrested Calvo was shown in court.
In one of the videos, an officer who notices blood on Calvo asks him where the blood came from. Calvo responded from the “killing that I committed … at 191 Chambers Avenue.”
Dr. Alina Iosif, a forensic psychiatrist who assessed Calvo for the Crown said she and Dr. Lisa Ramshaw, a forensic psychiatrist for the defence, agreed that Calvo qualified for the NCR defence.
Iosif believed he was actively psychotic before, during and after the killing and was either suffering from schizoaffective disorder or late-onset schizophrenia which began in 2017.
Iosif said that in 2017, Calvo had a workplace accident, lost his job and was being investigated by the Workplace Safety Insurance Board (WSIB).
She said he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was given anti-psychotic medication, which he discontinued using. She also found he suffered from opiod abuse disorder, after being prescribed opiods for his workplace injury and becoming addicted.
At the time of the killing, he was actively psychotic and believed that De Sousa was experiencing persecutorial delusions and auditory hallucinations from the TV in his home.
Iosif said Calvo continues to experience psychosis while incarcerated.
Iosif said Calvo had incorporated De Sousa into his delusional beliefs and was an undercover agent for the WSIB who was wearing a listening device.
The judge agreed with Iosif who found Calvo, at the time of the killing, heard voices from reporters on TV who told him that De Sousa was the leader of a terrorist organization and she was going to kill him.
“Dr. Iosif found Mr. Calvo believed he was acting in self-defence and thought it he didn’t stop her, she would kill him,” said Kelly.
“Even in his interview in 2025, he believed he had no other choice than to act in the way he did in order to save himself,” Kelly added.
“She (Iosif) could not eliminate the possibility that he acted out of jealousy and intoxication, but from a psychiatric perspective, the NCR defence is supported for the index offence,” Kelly said.
De Sousa’s children told Global News they are outraged that the crown didn’t argue that Calvo should be found criminally responsible.
“I’m angry. It’s infuriating, hearing his side of events knowing it’s fundamentally false,” Marguiles said.
David Marguiles, the victim’s stepson, said Iosif testified that two psychiatrists who treated Calvo over the years did not believe he was suffering psychosis but a mood disorder. Marguiles wondered why they were not call to testify.
“It’s hard to reconcile something like that. i can only think these are short assessments, it’s possible they missed something,” Iosif told the court.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
