A Canadian man who fatally stabbed a father in front of his three-year-old daughter has been convicted of manslaughter rather than second-degree murder.

British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Ker made the shocking decision on Wednesday in the trial of Inderdeep Singh Gosal, 34, who has admitted to stabbing Paul Schmidt, 37, six times in the torso and neck on March 26, 2023, CTV News reports.

But surveillance footage from the scene proved Schmidt was the initial aggressor, Ker ruled, saying the victim was ‘sinewy, agile and able’ and he ‘readily adopted a fighting stance’ while starting the physical altercation outside a downtown Vancouver Starbucks by ‘quickly advancing on Mr Gosal.’

The footage, which was played in court during the judge-alone trial, showed Gosal had been sitting on the Starbucks patio smoking marijuana when Schmidt, who had been pushing his daughter in a stroller, started berating him about smoking near the entrance.

Schmidt then approached Gosal and threw him to the ground, the surveillance footage showed.

‘Mr Schmidt confronted, punched at and started to corner Mr Gosal,’ Ker described in her decision.

At that point, Gosal could be seen pulling a knife from a pocket in his hoodie and slashing the father-of-one.Just 28 seconds after the physical fight began, Schmidt, who had been at the coffee shop with his partner and young daughter, was seen collapsing in a pool of blood on the patio in an encounter Ker described as ‘shocking, violent and traumatic,’ according to The Canadian Press.

Police arrived on the scene just moments after the stabbing, and Gosal surrendered.

‘I did it. He came after me,’ the killer said, according to testimony from a Vancouver police officer.

But during the judge-only trial, Gosal’s lawyers argued that a manslaughter charge was more appropriate, saying the attack involved ‘overreaction due to mental illness’ rather than a ‘deliberate intent to kill.’

They said Gosal has schizophrenia and suffers from psychotic symptoms and delusions of reference.

He had stopped taking antipsychotic medication about three months prior to the deadly encounter and believed a knife he said he found in an alley was a ‘sign from God’ he needed to protect himself.

Prosecutors, though, sought to poke holes in Gosal’s story, noting he made a number of inconsistent statements.

At one point during the investigation, Gosal claimed he had bought the knife which he had earlier said he found in an alley.

He also exaggerated how much alcohol he drank the day of the stabbing and offered psychiatrists varying descriptions of his mental state, the prosecutors noted.

In her decision, Ker said the inconsistencies in Gosal’s story left her uncertain.

‘His evidence was what one might call all over the proverbial map,’ she said.

Still, Ker said she accepted that Gosal had feared for his life when he stabbed Schmidt.

‘He was no longer acting in self-defense, but he was still acting in the heat of the moment, likely disinhibited and angry and responding to a situation where he perceived his life was in danger.’

Gosal may now get credit for the time he has already served since he was arrested in 2023 at his sentencing hearing, a date for which has not yet been set.