Edmonton's Top 5 court stories of 2014

An alleged double-killer who went on a stabbing rampage at a west-end warehouse, a woman who somehow became pregnant while in custody found unfit to stand trial for killing her mother, and the bizarre tattoo man.

These three cases made the top five Edmonton court stories of 2014 along with a couple who admitted starving their twin baby daughters — one of whom died — and a notorious homicide suspect who had murder charges reinstated against him in connection with the disappearance and presumed slaying of an elderly couple.

Jayme Pasieka, 30, is facing two counts of first-degree murder, four counts of attempted murder and four counts of aggravated assault in connection with the Feb. 28 stabbing spree at the Loblaws warehouse in west Edmonton.

Pasieka is accused of stabbing six people, including the two deceased, Fitzroy Harris, 50, and Thierno Bah, 41.

According to court-filed city police search warrant documents, Pasieka allegedly left his home wearing a bullet-proof vest and armed with two knives and then went to a military surplus store to buy two larger knives.

He then went to the warehouse for his 2 p.m. shift and began attacking co-workers.

A manhunt began and Pasieka was arrested without incident about 5 p.m. when tactical team members boxed in his 1999 green Ford Explorer on 39 Street at 74 Avenue.

Pasieka’s case was last in Court of Queen’s Bench on Dec. 12 and was adjourned again until Jan. 9. Court has heard that lawyers are anticipating a six-week jury trial, but no date has been set as the defence is still waiting on a private mental health assessment to be completed.

Related: Aug. 15 - Accused Edmonton warehouse stabber makes court appearance

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Kirsten Michelle Lamb — a 31-year-old mother of three — is charged with second-degree murder for the November 2010 slaying of her mother, Sandra Lamb, 49.

On Sept. 11, a jury declared Lamb unfit to stand trial.

During a two-day hearing, a psychiatrist testified that Lamb has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and is currently unfit to stand trial as a result of her not understanding her present legal situation due to multiple persecutory delusional beliefs.

These beliefs include her claiming her mother is still alive and involved in a conspiracy to frame her on the murder charge and keep her detained. She also believes she has been acquitted of the offence multiple times.

As well, she maintains that the Crown prosecutor in the case is her current or past spouse.

The jury also learned that Lamb somehow become pregnant while in custody at Alberta Hospital and was due to give birth in November. She refuses to name the father.

Lamb was being held in a supposedly secure area of the hospital and, based on the times involved, it can only be assumed the father would have to be either a fellow patient, a staff member or someone who visited her.

According to a psychiatric report, Lamb has endorsed various grandiose beliefs of being a surgeon, a psychiatrist and the dean of a university, all simultaneously. She also interacted with Alberta Hospital patients as if she was a doctor and said she was a rich real estate owner.

Collateral information contradicts these beliefs.

After being found unfit, Lamb was referred to the Alberta Review Board. She will continue to be held at Alberta Hospital and will periodically be reassessed to determine whether she is fit to stand trial.

At the time of Sandra Lamb’s slaying, police said they were called to the pipefitter’s 10816 52 St. home on Nov. 29, 2010, to check on her welfare and officers discovered her body inside. An autopsy was performed, but police have not released the cause of her death.

RELATED: March 13, 2012: Prelim begins over alleged matricide

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Andrew Oliver Gulliver — who is in the midst of a dangerous offender hearing in Court of Queen’s Bench after being convicted in 2012 of a vicious sex attack in Claresholm — has tattoos all over his face.

Court documents filed during the three-week hearing in September portray a violent criminal with a history of attacking women, sometimes with weapons, who has a keen interest in tattooing and a devotion to Satanism.

A psychiatric report says the Sherwood Park man likely has an anti-social personality disorder and high test scores indicating a protypical psychopath classification.

Gulliver is also classified as a high risk to re-offend both violently and sexually.

The report notes he made death threats against a prosecutor and two Mounties in obscene and racist letters sent from the Edmonton Institution after he was convicted of the 2010 sex attack in which he called himself the "Jew Slayer," with references to the "Satanic Skinhead Syndicate" and pictures of swastikas.

A 1999 psychological report detailing Gulliver’s childhood notes he began acting out in Grade 2, including setting fires, spraying kids with gas, putting thumb tacks on chairs, exposing himself and looking up girls’ skirts.

He also admitted killing animals as a child.

A 2012 RCMP threat assessment report cites prison reports that have Gulliver saying he is interested in paranormal phenomenon, witchcraft and Satanism and idolizes mass murderers Ted Bundy and Charles Manson.

Gulliver was convicted of sexual assault, assault, unlawful confinement, choking and uttering threats for the Claresholm attack. The victim testified he hit her in the head three times, pinned her to a bed, choked her, tried to burn her with a cigarette and sexually assaulted her.

Gulliver’s dangerous offender hearing resumes on Jan. 30.

RELATED: Jan. 11, 2013: Edmonton Institution inmate pleads guilty to uttering death threats against prosecutor, Mounties

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An Edmonton father who starved and failed to protect his abused two-year-old twin daughters — one of whom later died — was handed a 15-year prison term on June 11.

The 37-year-old, who can’t be named to protect the identity of the children, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, failing to provide the necessaries of life and aggravated assault.

He admitted actively participating in depriving the twins of food and other nourishment and failing to seek medical attention for them, despite knowing they required it. He claimed he did not personally inflict any of the physical injuries to the twins, but admitted he is responsible for leaving them in the home and failing to get them help.

The sentencing judge called the shocking case — involving the death of the toddler known as Baby M — a "near-murder" and "a crime of inhumanity against small children."

The judge also said it was aggravating that the man’s son was well-fed and nourished.

The mother of the three children pleaded guilty to manslaughter, aggravated assault and failing to provide the necessaries of life on July 16. However, she has not yet been sentenced. Her case is back in court on Jan. 16.

The 36-year-old woman admitted she and her husband were responsible for the abuse and neglect of the two girls, the death of the one twin and the endangerment of her surviving sister. She also admitted causing the fatal inflicted traumatic brain injury to Baby M.

The Algerian landed immigrants were arrested on June 12, 2012. Court heard emergency responders showed up at the couple’s south-side home on May 25, 2012, after the husband called 911 from his work. They found a severely emaciated Baby M in cardiac arrest with bruising to her head and her sister, Baby S, with extensive facial bruising. Lots of food was seen in the fridge and cupboards.

When the then- almost 28-month-old girls were admitted to hospital, they weighed the equivalent of six-month-old infants and their development and growth was stunted.

RELATED: Baby 'M' dies after life support pulled

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Following more than four years behind bars, notorious homicide suspect Travis Vader was released from the Edmonton Remand Centre on Oct. 8 after being found not guilty of charges involving drugs, a gun and stolen trucks.

Vader, 42, was acquitted of all charges in connection with the 2010 incident after a judge ruled she had a reasonable doubt based on untrustworthy witnesses and a lack of forensic evidence linking Vader to the trucks and gun.

Vader was earlier convicted of the charges after a 2012 trial, however a retrial was ordered when a mistrial was declared as a result of late police disclosure.

The RCMP alleged Vader and two women were smoking crystal meth supplied by Vader at a Barrhead-area home on June 15, 2010, and the trio later left in a stolen Ford Ranger pickup, in which Vader stored a backpack containing a .22-calibre revolver and some ammunition.

On March 19, second-degree murder charges were stayed against Vader relating to the 2010 disappearance and presumed slaying of seniors Lyle and Marie McCann.

On Friday, Vader was rearrested and the murder charges were reinstated.

The McCanns — Lyle, 78, and Marie, 77 — were last seen fuelling up their motorhome in St. Albert on July 3, 2010, while en route to Chilliwack, B.C., for a vacation. Two days later, their RV was found engulfed in flames near the Minnow Lake campground, 20 km east of Edson. The SUV they were towing was discovered six days later in a remote wooded area near Carrot Creek, 30 km east of Edson. Their bodies have yet to be recovered, although police declared them dead and presumed murdered.

Vader was also found not guilty on Sept. 3 of threatening to kill a guard at the former downtown remand centre in July 2012 after a judge ruled he had a reasonable doubt.

Vader has filed a $1-million lawsuit, alleging RCMP misconduct, malicious prosecution by the Crown and abusive mistreatment by correctional officers.​

RELATED: April 23, 2012: Vader charged with killing McCanns