A woman who stabbed a Watson Lake social worker last June is seeking to be declared not criminally responsible.

On Tuesday, Yukon territorial court heard from a psychiatrist testifying for the defence about Ashley Chief’s mental state at the time of the offence.

Chief’s lawyer is arguing the 29-year-old woman couldn’t tell what she was doing was wrong because of mental illness on June 27, 2015.

To use that defence, the judge must first be satisfied that the accused committed the acts.

It’s then up to the defence to prove on a balance of probabilities the accused didn’t have the mens rea – the intent or understanding of wrongdoing tied to the act – because of mental illness.

Judge John Faulkner was quickly satisfied Chief did commit the stabbing, proceeding on the charge of attempted murder.

Defence and Crown counsels had filed an agreed statement of facts describing the attack.

The court also watched two surveillance videos showing Chief repeatedly stabbing the social worker.

Chief was suffering from severe mental disorders and had a psychotic episode that night, psychiatrist Jeannette Smith told the court.

Smith filed reports to the court after interviewing Chief twice last year.

She didn’t testify for the defence but was cross-examined by the Crown.

Prosecutor Eric Marcoux repeatedly asked Smith whether she based her report on Chief’s interview, questioning the reliability of such information.

Police, medical records and interviews with relatives were also used, Smith said.

Smith noted Chief didn’t want to be found not criminally responsible, and was at first reluctant to speak to her during the first interview.

“She didn’t want to be portrayed as mentally ill,” she said.

“She told me she needed to be punished and sent to prison for many years.”

Smith had to talk to Chief’s lawyer to convince her to co-operate.

Chief had taken LSD that day but Smith insisted she couldn’t quantify how much it exacerbated the psychosis she was already in.

Chief had gotten into an argument with a social worker a few days before the stabbing.

Marcoux asked whether Chief could have transferred her aggression from that day onto the shelter employee.

“I’ve never heard of that happening,” Smith said.

There was no provoking event last June 27, and it would be unlikely Chief “stored the anger,” Smith said.

In her report, Smith concludes Chief didn’t know her actions were morally wrong.

In her psychotic state, Chief believed her life was in danger and her attack was pre-emptive self-defence, the psychiatrist said.

But that comes from Chief herself, Marcoux pointed out.

“Maybe that’s what she wants to believe,” he told her.

Smith admitted she doesn’t know how reliable Chief was.

But the conclusion the woman was psychotic that day was based on observation by her relatives in days leading to the attack, and her behaviour in detention afterwards, Smith said.

“It’s the explanation with the fewer uncertainties,” she said.

A lot of the symptoms Chief exhibited could fit a Borderline Personality Disorder diagnosis, Marcoux noted.

Psychosis is very rare for people with BPD, Smith objected. She also had persecutory and paranoid delusions, speaking about people wanting to crucify her.

Marcoux also asked her about Chief’s inability to recall most of her childhood.

She was assaulted multiple times when she was a child, starting at age seven, Smith said.

Children facing such abuses dissociate, she told the court, as an internal defence mechanism.

That means she probably only has fragments of memories from her childhood.

Faulkner pointed that the video shows the social worker fleeing from Chief, but the woman still pursued her “vigorously.”

The judge asked her how that behaviour could match the belief she was acting in self-defence.

It all depends on the belief she had that night, Smith said.

Those can be totally illogical, including beliefs other people have supernatural powers.

Chief, who remained silent throughout the hearing, quietly teared up at times through Smith’s testimony.

Chief’s mother called the RCMP at 10:34 p.m. that night, requesting that her daughter be removed from her home because she was acting weird according to an agreed statement of facts filed to the court.

The police gave Chief a ride to the Help and Hope Shelter in Watson Lake.

After filing paperwork with a social worker, Chief stabbed her for no apparent reason.

The social worker was able to fight her off and drove herself to the hospital.

The Crown prosecutor showed two surveillance videos from that day to the court.

A publication ban prohibits identifying the victim.

The first video shows the front desk of the Help and Hope Shelter.

Chief can be seen filling out paperwork, calmly interacting with a social worker.

Marcoux fast-forwarded the video to several minutes later.

The worker turns her head as she hears a noise. She goes back to filling out paperwork.

Chief enters the room. The worker turns to her right to face her.

They talk for a couple seconds, then Chief comes around the desk.

The worker notices a knife, and asks her about it.

“That’s a knife, bitch,” Chief said according to the statement of facts.

In the video, Chief then raises her right hand, holding a kitchen knife, and quickly stabs the worker multiple times.

The worker pushes her away and runs through the backyard.

The second video shows Chief chasing her in the fenced backyard and assaulting her.

After several minutes the worker is able to fight Chief off, runs back in the shelter and locks her out.

The worker suffered injuries on her head, back and shoulder.

Chief also tried to slit the woman’s throat during the fight.

On top of attempted murder, Chief was also charged with aggravated assault and assault causing bodily harm.

She pleaded not guilty to all three counts.

Both parties will be back before Judge Faulkner at the end of the month for final submissions.