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Mountie who obsessed about cheating wife says he is not criminally responsible for killing her in Edmonton

Former Mountie Tirth Sehmbi was obsessed that his wife was cheating on him and he had cameras hidden throughout the south Edmonton home where he shot her to death.

Sehmbi also hired a private eye to watch their home and had an autistic neighbour — whom he asked to help him discover who she was having an affair with — come over and hide in a closet to listen for anything unusual.

The only question is whether or not he was sufficiently mentally ill at the time of the July 10, 2010, slaying of Rajpinder Sehmbi to be found not criminally responsible.

Sehmbi, 39, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and a hearing in the case, scheduled for seven days, began in Court of Queen’s Bench on Wednesday.

Crown prosecutor Carrie Sharpe conceded in court that Sehmbi was “suffering from a disease of the mind” at the time of the killing, but she is contesting that it was at the level needed to absolve him of criminal responsibility.

Court heard Sehmbi has been assessed by five mental health doctors with three concluding he should be found not criminally responsible and two saying he should be.

Psychologist Dr. Robert Faltin testified Wednesday that he believes Sehmbi should be found not criminally responsible as he was suffering from a delusional disorder at the time of the killing.

Faltin told the hearing some doctors believe Sehmbi has paranoid schizophrenia and said the former Stony Plain RCMP dog handler might have both diagnoses, as well as some other disorder that has not yet been determined.

“What happened that night is really somewhat puzzling to me,” said Faltin, adding that Sehmbi “gradually became obsessed with the idea that someone was having sex with his wife” and was “unable to shake” those convictions.

“I think what happened was something in the area of irresistible impulse,” he said.

According to agreed facts, Sehmbi used his RCMP service pistol to shoot his 29-year-old wife 15 times — including a shot to the forehead from very close range — while she was on a chair in the family room, partially seated on an RCMP uniform and pants. The gun was on the armrest.

The couple’s sons, now 10 and 11, were with his parents.

Surveillance cameras and voice recorders were concealed throughout the house and Sehmbi told the security company owner that his wife was cheating on him and the purpose of the cameras was to catch her.

Sehmbi also asked neighbours about using a holiday trailer parked on the street to do surveillance on his wife and hired a private investigator to watch the home.

On the night before the 4:20 a.m. killing, Sehmbi asked a 25-year-old autistic neighbour to help him and he hid him in a basement closet and told him to call him if he heard anything unusual. About three hours before the shooting, Rajpinder discovered the man and he was told to get out.

Afterwards, Sehmbi demanded that Rajpinder show him where her nonexistent lover came and left the home.

A few minutes before the shooting, Sehmbi called his parents and one of their sons said he could hear his mom screaming in the background. A few minutes after that, neighbours reported hearing screaming and gunshots.

Sehmbi told his sons on the phone that he had shot their mom and then later told his supervisor what he had done and he was arrested after meeting him in Spruce Grove.

It also says in the agreed facts that Sehmbi was ordered to see a psychologist four months before the slaying because his work was suffering.

The psychologist deemed him fit for duty.

This is the oddest murder I've heard of in a while. When I read the part about him hiding an autistic guy in the closet to spy on his wife, I almost laughed.

Perhaps the craziest thing is that he was a cop and he was considered sane