Woman accused of killing three people in Ontario fit to stand trial, court rules

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This article was published 11/06/2025 (289 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Toronto woman accused of killing three people in three Ontario cities over three days last year is fit to stand trial, a court ruled Wednesday.

Sabrina Kauldhar faces one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder. The charges relate to three deaths police have said took place over three consecutive days in Toronto, Niagara Falls and Hamilton in early October.

In March, a judge ruled that Kauldhar was unfit to stand trial at that time, after the prosecution requested a psychological assessment.

Defence lawyers had initially asked for the assessment, but withdrew their application saying Kauldhar had instructed them to oppose it.

After being found unfit, she was ordered into a 60-day psychiatric treatment. 

Kauldhar’s lawyers argued following Kauldhar’s reassessment that the Crown has not met its burden to prove it is more likely than not that the accused has the “psychological wherewithal to meet the test for fitness,” a judge for the Ontario Court of Justice said Wednesday. 

But Justice Russell Silverstein said he took into consideration the opinions of medical experts from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health who observed Kauldhar before making his decision.

“It stands to reason that if most of the symptoms of the defendant’s mental illness have resolved through treatment, it is also likely that her unfitness to stand trial, another earlier symptom of her illness, has also resolved,” he said in a Toronto courtroom Wednesday.

He ultimately ruled that Kauldhar would be fit to stand trial. 

Kauldhar was arrested and charged in the three killings in early October.

Toronto police found a woman dead in the city’s west end on Oct. 1. Investigators identified the victim as 66-year-old Trinh Thi Vu, and have said she and Kauldhar knew each other but did not provide details on their relationship.

The following day, emergency officials responded to a park in Niagara Falls for a reported disturbance and found 47-year-old Lance Cunningham critically injured. He later died at the scene, police said. 

On Oct. 3, Hamilton police said they found an unresponsive, injured man in a parking lot who later died in hospital. They identified him as 77-year-old Mario Bilich, and said he was found with stab wounds. 

Police said Kauldhar was arrested in Burlington later that day. 

Investigators have said they believe Cunningham and Bilich were randomly attacked.

Kauldhar is scheduled to appear in court again next month.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2025.