September 8,2025
RED FM News Desk
The trial has begun for a psychiatric patient accused of stabbing three people at Vancouver’s Light Up Chinatown Festival in 2023, with the suspect entering a plea of not guilty on Monday.
Blair Evan Donnelly appeared in court carrying a Bible and dressed in standard-issue sweats, glasses, and orange plastic sandals.
Both his lawyer and the Crown prosecutor confirmed that Donnelly admitted to stabbing three festivalgoers — a woman in her 20s, a woman in her 60s, and the older woman’s husband — on Sept. 10, 2023. The trial will now determine whether he was criminally responsible for his actions.
Evidence presented included surveillance footage showing Donnelly buying a wood chisel at a Home Depot while on an unescorted day pass from Colony Farm psychiatric hospital. Additional video showed him biking from the Braid Street SkyTrain Station to Chinatown, where he was later captured on festival recordings near the main stage at Columbia and Keefer streets.
According to the Crown, Donnelly attacked without warning, stabbing the younger woman in the back, then the older woman, before stabbing her husband in the arm when he intervened. The husband also injured his knee as he fell.
The court heard that Donnelly did not speak to his victims at any point during the incident.
The judge-alone trial is expected to conclude as early as next week.
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