Three days before John Patrick Harder attacked and killed his mother, she called 911, trying to get help for her son who was falling deeper into psychosis, a judge heard Tuesday.

Harder, 35, was originally charged with second-degree murder of his mother, Sol Harder, who was attacked on July 23, 2023.

That was the day of Sol’s 60th birthday.

Harder’s second-degree murder trial was supposed to take place this week. But instead, prosecutor Luke Craggs and defence lawyer Gavin Wolch ran a consent-NCR hearing, meaning both sides jointly asked the judge to find Harder not criminally responsible. 

On Monday, Harder admitted to the facts of the case. 

On Tuesday, the lawyers presented psychiatric evidence to Court of King’s Bench Justice Melanie Gaston.

Gaston heard that Harder had no history of violence. He’d completed a university degree in international relations and had been steadily employed. 

In 2022 and 2023, Harder was teaching English in Korea. He returned to Calgary in mid-July 2023 and moved in with his mother and aunt.

‘He is not the same person’

On July 20, 2023, Sol called 911 after John left her condo. She told the operator John got engaged easily and she was struggling to cope. 

“[I] want him to get a proper assessment because he is really seriously ill … He doesn’t recognize me as his mother, he is not the same person, he was a gentle person and now he is the opposite,” she told the operator.

Sol also disclosed that Harder had pushed her several times.

She told responding officers that after speaking with her doctor, she believed he might have schizophrenia. 

Broken ribs

Sol did not want the officers to charge John with assault, so they provided her with information about emergency protection orders and how to obtain a mental health warrant.

Three days later, Sol was dead. 

Court heard Monday that around 4 p.m. on July 23, 2023, Sol’s sister and son gathered at her downtown condo before the trio planned to head out for dinner to celebrate. John became angry and attacked both women.

Sol suffered four broken ribs, which lacerated her liver and diaphragm, causing internal bleeding which eventually led to her death. 

The medical examiner couldn’t rule out that medical interventions exacerbated Sol’s fatal injuries. 

‘Active’ psychosis

Dr. Cynthia Baxter was tasked with assessing John after his arrest. 

Baxter interviewed John on several occasions, viewed officers’ body-worn camera footage from the two interactions police had at Sol’s condo, as well as other information from the police investigation. 

Harder has since been diagnosed with schizophrenia, which Baxter described as “active” on the day of Sol’s death. 

Baxter found that on July 23, 2023, John “was extremely out of touch with reality and highly irrational. His behaviour that day almost certainly arose from psychosis rather than a minor family spat.”

‘Hopefully a future’

Harder was in active psychosis, suffering from delusions, hallucinations and disorganized speech when he attacked his mother. 

He believed his mother was in Japan and that the woman in the condo was an imposter.

“This case presents the court with what is really the model illustration of why Canada has a verdict of NCR,” said Harder’s lawyer Gavin Wolch. 

Wolch said his client is now medicated and is working “to come to terms with what happened.”

“There is hopefully a future where he can be more in concert with the John Harder who finished an international relations degree.”

The judge accepted the joint position of the Crown and defence and found Harder not criminally responsible, ruling he was actively psychotic at the time of the incident and incapable of knowing his actions were morally wrong. 

Harder will now be sent to a secure psychiatric facility where he will be treated. Alberta’s Criminal Code Review Board will check on his progress annually.