Sleepwalking as Non-Insane Automatism: R. v. Parks

• Author: Marlys Edwardh
• Pages: 93-108

Sleepwalking

as

Non-Insane

Automatism:

R v.

Parks

MARLYS EDWARDH

2004

In

the

late evening

of May 23,

1987,

Ken

Parks

lay

down

on the

couch

in his

living

room

to

watch television.

His

wife

had

just gone

to

bed.

He was

dressed

in

track pants

and a

T-shirt,

his

normal sleeping attire.

He

fell

asleep between

1:00

and

2:00 a.m. that night. Several hours later Parks rose

from

his

couch,

put on his

shoes

and

jacket,

and

departed, leaving

the

front

door

open-

something

he

never did.

He got

into

his car and

drove

to the

townhouse

of

his

parents-in-law, some twenty-three kilometres

away.

The

journey, mostly

by

superhighway, customarily took Parks

ten to

fifteen

minutes

to

drive.

He

entered

the

house using

his key and

carrying

a

tire iron,

one of the

tools

he

had in his

car, along with

a

hatchet

and two

knives.

Denis Woods, Parks's father-in-law, woke

to a

choking sensation.

He

felt

hands around

his

neck

and had the

impression that

the

person

who was

strangling

him was

also straddling

his

body,

as he

could

feel

weight around

his

waist.

He

called

out to his

wife,

Barbara,

for

help

but

heard

no

response.

He

then passed out. Upstairs,

the

Woods

children-Emma,

Prudence,

and

Jonathan-were

asleep. They awoke

to the

sound

of a

woman screaming. Both

Emma

and

Prudence called downstairs

to

their

mother.

Just

before

the

screaming sounds stopped, they heard animal

or

ape-like grunting noises.

Emma

and

Prudence heard footsteps moving quickly

up the

stairs towards

them

and the

ape-like noises getting louder. They

both

ran

into

a

bedroom

93

94

MARLYS

EDWARDH

and

closed

the

door.

Suddenly,

the

footsteps retreated down

the

stairs. Shortly

after,

they heard

the

basement

door

slam

shut.

Fearful,

the

children jumped

out the

bedroom window,

and

escaped

to a

neighbour's house.

Ken

Parks entered

a

police station

at

4:45 a.m.

and

approached

the

front

counter.

He was

dripping

blood

from

severe lacerations

to

both

his

hands.

The

cuts went

to the

bone

and

severed

the

flexor

tendons. First

to the

civilian

telephone operator,

and

shortly

after

to

several police

officers,

he

said,

"My

God, I've just killed

two

people.

My

hands."

One of the

officers

would later

describe Ken's tone

as one of

amazement

and

realization when

he

made this

statement.

The

scene

at the

police station

was

chaotic.

He was

immediately

taken

to a

small

office,

where

he

gave

the

Woods's address. Throughout

the

time

in the

police station,

Ken was

extremely upset

and

distressed.

He was

variously described

as

crying, shaking,

and

very hyper.

The

officers,

believing

they could

not

stem

the

bleeding

from

his

hands long enough

to

wait

for an

ambulance, decided

to

take

him to the

hospital

in a

police cruiser. During

the

two-

or

three-minute ride

to the

hospital, Parks kept repeating over

and

over

again,

"Why

did I

kill them?

Why did I

kill

them?"

He

continued

to cry and

be

most

upset.

When

the

police arrived

at the

Woods's residence, Mrs. Woods's body

was

found

in the TV

room,

outside

the

master bedroom.

She had

sustained

a

variety

of

serious

injuries,

one of

which proved

fatal.

Her

injuries

included

five

stab

wounds-one

to the

chest, which entered

her

heart,

and

four

to the

back;

a

skull

fracture;

other

blunt

force

injuries

to the

head;

and

pressure

fractures

to

several ribs.

Mr.

Woods

was

found

by

police, nauseous

and

dizzy,

sitting

on

the

basement stairs with severe lacerations

to his

head

and

upper back area.

At

the

hospital, Parks

was

overheard speaking aloud

to

himself:

"I

killed

her

parents,"

he

mumbled.

"I

don't

know why.

I had a

problem gambling.

I

woke

up in the

middle

of the

night.

I

don't

know why. What

the

fuck

did I do?

What

happened?

I was

sleeping

on the

couch.

I

just woke

up. I had a

dream.

I

had a

knife

in my

hand.

I was

killing

them.

I

choked them,

and

then

I

went

to the

police station.

Don't

worry

about

me, get

them.

How

could

I

drive there

and not

know?" Throughout,

he was

extremely agitated

and

distressed.

A

treating physician described

him as

having

a

frightened

"in-flight" appear-

ance. Although

Ken had no

memory

of

having

a

dream,

at the

time

he

thought

he

might

be in a

dream

or

nightmare

from

which

he

would awaken.

Parks

was'transferred

to

Sunnybrook Hospital, where

the

police con-

ducted their

first

extensive interview with him. During

the

interview,

he