Fulton Family Letter Condems Inaction of BC Mental Health System

The family of a 12-year-old autistic boy killed one year ago when his bipolar neighbour stabbed him in the neck with a kitchen knife spoke out this week, questioning the “common sense” of B.C.’s mental health system.

Kimberly Noyes, 43, was found last week to be not criminally responsible in the slaying of John Fulton at her Grand Forks, B.C., home in August 2009.

The following is the complete text of the Fulton family’s letter:

To begin, our family would like to thank the community of Grand Forks, Const. Bell and our victim service worker Catherine Riddle for their overwhelming support and kindness. Words cannot express the loss our family has suffered, nor the horror of having to do it in such a public way.

We have heard repeatedly that the mental health system has let Ms. Noyes down. We feel it wasn’t Noyes that was let down by the system but rather our family and John.

From testimony given over the last few weeks it is quite clear that Noyes was a threat to the community and a danger to children. Any layman can see that there was a clear history of violence and homicidal delusions, yet she was released back into the community over and over again.

If this woman was a pedophile she would not have allowed her near children. Even though she was clearly a threat to children she was allowed back into a low income family unit without giving any warning to the families that lived there.

This woman knew she was ill. The local RCMP, mental health workers, psychiatrists, her doctor, and her family knew she was ill; and despite her clearly disturbing behaviour the months before John’s death, no one thought to hospitalize her. Where was the common sense? After multiple forced hospitalizations, a history of violence, a history of going off medications, threats uttered about harming children . . . no one in authority could see a downhill spiral leading to her acting out on her delusions.

Our family is not suggesting that people who struggle with mental illness should be locked away from society. We have dear friends who have struggled with depression and mental illness, however, when someone is uttering threats about sacrificing children or making homicidal comments we believe that the government, namely mental health should be charged with protecting the rights of the general public rather than those of the individual. We would go as far as to say that people who have had these types of delusions would rather be hospitalized than to hurt a child.

The loss of this beautiful child has been devastating to our family. The way in which he was taken from us was unimaginable. The pain we feel will take years to lessen, but will never be fully gone.

This senseless crime was completely avoidable. Noyes’ actions were completely deplorable but mental health’s inactions are equally so.

Accused Killer: was deemed not a ‘significant threat’ and released by the Review Board

Alexander Lawrence Laglace is charged with the second-degree murder of Tammy-Lynn Cordone in Vancouver’s Lighthouse Park in May of 2009… just months after being released.

The BRITISH COLUMBIA REVIEW BOARD held the review on December 8,2008 and the final order was signed on January 7, 2009, ruling that “we nonetheless conclude that Mr. Laglace currently does not pose a significant threat of grave harm such as warrants our ongoing jurisdiction over him.”

The BRITISH COLUMBIA REVIEW BOARD months earlier in March of 2008, had seemed to arrive at a different conclusion finding:

Note I have edited for brevity… please utilize full report for accuracy.

[ 24 ] When the accused last was before the Board on August 9, 2007, the Board
observed that the index offence of arson was serious and had the potential to lead to catastrophic results. The Board noted the accused’s record for and history of possessing weapons. The Board was concerned by the accused’s antisocial attitudes and was troubled by the incident of 2006 when he kicked another patient in the head as punishment. The accused’s attitude to continuing substance use was found to increase his risk.

[ 25 ] a period of just over four months, the accused’s behaviour has demonstrated that the panel’s concerns were justified.  Once in the community under conditional discharge he continued to abuse substances which by his own admission amounted to using cocaine every two to three days in addition to periodic marijuana and alcohol use. The accused found himself in serious trouble on no less than three occasions within a time span of approximately 2 months. He was alternately robbed or attacked at late hours near the Surrey sky train. There were multiple complaints of intimidating and threatening behaviour. The accused was eventually evicted from his accommodation for threatening behaviour. When returned to FPH the accused was found to have a six-inch box cutter in his possession.

[ 26 ] the accused’s combination of substance abuse and antisocial behaviours
such as loan sharking left him at high risk to intimidate others and wind up in dangerous confrontations.

[ 27 ] The risk of the accused becoming involved in some dispute or confrontation while in possession of a knife or other weapon and while under the influence of drugs is real and indeed foreseeable. In such circumstances the possibility of violence is equally foreseeable.

[ 29 ] We conclude that the evidence continues to establish that the accused is a
significant threat to public safety.

West Vancouver police have identified the woman murdered in Lighthouse Park as Tammi-Lynn Louise Cordone, 43, of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Her family may disagree with the BRITISH COLUMBIA REVIEW BOARD conclusion of “not a significant threat”.

Manitoba will not appeal Vincent Li Strolls

The Crown will not appeal a decision to allow Vince Li to stroll the grounds of the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, a spokesperson says.

The province’s Justice Department conducted a thorough review of the Manitoba Criminal Code Review Board’s May 31 decision and found that there are no legal grounds to appeal the order, Manitoba’s deputy attorney general Don Slough said.

Should the serial killer be kept where he is?

dahn batchelor’s opinions… is shared by a lot of fellow Canadians..

The grounds and area surrounding the Mental Health Centre in Penetanguishene, Ontario are steeped in history. The original 380 acre site was chosen by Governor John Graves Simcoe as a naval and military base to protect the Upper Great Lakes from American threats in the aftermath of the War of 1812. Perched at the entrance of Penetanguishene Harbour, the site retains its commanding view of Severn Sound in Southern Ontario.

In 1933, the first four wards of the maximum security facility which is the Oak Ridge Division were constructed. Originally intended to provide custodial care for the ‘criminally insane,’ Oak Ridge was the only institution of its kind in Canada at the time. Prior to 1933, mentally disordered offenders were shunted around the province to other psychiatric hospitals in Ontario. Since patients were rarely released back into society in the early days, another four wards were added to Oak Ridge in the mid-1950′s bringing the current patient capacity to 312 for patients whose ages are 17 and up. The really dangerous criminally insane offenders are sent to this facility.

The Ontario Review Board annually reviews the status of every person who has been found to be not criminally responsible or who is considered unfit to stand trial for criminal offences on account of a mental disorder. The Ontario Review Board is established under the Criminal Code of Canada. The Board is made up of judges, lawyers, psychiatrists, psychologists and public members appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

Ontario’s worst serial killer, Russell Johnson a.k.a. the ‘Bedroom Strangler’ has his sights on the pastoral setting of the Brockville mental-health facility that is perched on well-manicured lawns overlooking the St. Lawrence River. Psychiatrists described Johnson as a sexual sadist, a lust murderer and a necrophile. (has sex with dead bodies) Johnson (now 62) was the sexual sadist and necrophiliac who terrorized the London-St. Thomas-Guelph area back in the ’70s by stalking single women in apartment buildings, sometimes scaling 15 storeys, and then raping and strangling them in their beds. He sodomized one of them after he killed her. In 1978, he was charged with three murders. Later, he admitted to four additional murders and raping and choking 11 other women. The police believe that he has killed even more.

Now he wants to be sent to the Brockville Mental Health Centre, (a few hundred metres north of Lake Ontario) and comprises of several specialized units: Assessment Unit: a secure 9-bed unit providing acute care and assessment and treatment for court-ordered assessments; Forensic Rehabilitation Unit: a secure 24-bed unit providing medium-term care, assessment and treatment; Transition Unit 2: a secure 11-bed unit for patients requiring longer-term care, assessment and treatment, and a Transition Unit 1 that is a 15-bed unit providing medium-term care, assessment and treatment, as well as outreach and community reintegration services.

Russell Johnson is seeking a transfer from Oak Ridge via the Ontario Review Board. For Johnson, if the Board grants his request, it would be the equivalent of moving from a dungeon to the Ritz. He wants to spend the rest of his time in custody at the Ritz and I suppose, be eventually released back into society.

The people of Brockville are concerned that this man may end up walking about in their community and they have a right to be concerned. They haven’t forgotten David Kreuger, once a Penetang asylumist, and, more recently, Paul Delorme, another Penetang asylumist.

Peter Woodcock (born March 5, 1939) was a Canadian serial killer and child rapist who murdered three young children in Toronto, Canada in 1956 and 1957 when he was still a teenager. He was apprehended in 1957, declared legally insane and placed in Oak Ridge. In 1982, he legally changed his name to David Michael Krueger.

Woodcock murdered a fellow psychiatric patient in 1991 with a knife and hatchet at the medium-security hospital in Brockville, Ontario, during the first hour of his very first weekend pass. Woodcock was being supervised on the pass by Bruce Hamill, a former patient who killed an elderly Ottawa woman in 1984. Hamill was an accomplice in the Brockville murder, and both men were subsequently returned to Oak Ridge where Kruegar died on March 5, 2010 at the age of 71.

On a September day in 2001, Paul Norman Delorme, then 37 and a known child molester with a predilection for little girls, followed a 7-year-old girl into the women’s washroom of a Tim Hortons in this city, where he did exactly what his sexual deviancy made him prone to do.

What made the case particularly outrageous — and later the focus of a $3.6-million lawsuit by the girl’s family — was that Delorme was allowed to enter the restaurant unescorted, along with three other psychiatric patients, while Brockville Psychiatric staff waited outside in their vehicle.

In what seemed like a long shot at the time, Brockville Crown attorney Curt Flanagan — obviously fed up with the Delormes of this world being given such loose rein by psychiatrists who obviously didn’t know what they were doing, convinced superior court Justice Gerald Morin that Delorme, a long-term psychiatric case, was actually a dangerous offender, and not truly mentally ill. Therefore, instead of going back to Penetang, where his future movements would depend again upon the supposedly balanced discretion of the Ontario Review Board, Delorme was sent off to a maximum-security penitentiary setting, and a cell at the segregation wing of the Kingston Penitentiary within earshot of such notorious inmates as Paul Bernardo and cop-turned-killer Richard Wills and there, Delorme will likely die.

Johnson has long sought a transfer to a medium security psychiatric institution in Brockville. Unfortunately, his condition is as incurable as the scars borne by the victims’ families. Despite that, he is legally entitled to have his case reviewed annually by the Ontario Review Board. Although the membership of the Board has changed, it is the same Board that permitted child killer Peter Woodcock to be transferred to Brockville.

Three major topics arose during the eight-hour proceedings: the suitability of Brockville as a potential new home for Johnson; the murderer’s probability of re-offending; whether he feels any genuine remorse for his crimes.

Dr. John Bradford, a forensic psychiatrist who diagnosed Johnson as a sexual sadist upon examining him in 1985, spent the day testifying. Dr. Bradford holds a senior administrative and clinical position at Brockville. Johnson would not come under his care were a transfer request approved. Johnson’s present address is an all-male facility. Brockville has female patients, and residents are not locked in their rooms at night. Johnson would, in theory, be held in a secure, all-male wing. But he murdered women as they slept. Janice Blackburn, the attorney for Oak Ridge admitted that if Johnson was sent to Brockville, it would mean that for Johnson, “there is a sleeping-victim pool within the walls.”

Dr. Bradford was unable to provide an accurate measure of whether Johnson might re-offend, given an opportunity. The hearing heard how studies show recidivism rates for sexual offenders over the age of 60 to be 3.8%. The doctor pegged the rate for sexual sadists at two to three times higher. Johnson recidivism rate is beyond categorization because there are no statistics for him, because there is nobody else like him. The enormity of his crimes makes him unique. Dr. Bradford said, “Serial sadistic sexually motivated homicide is very rare. There are no benchmarks to go by vis-a-vis treatments.”

Most of the psychiatrists that have testified at these hearings have said for Johnson to be released, it would be ‘catastrophic. I suppose the people of Brockville are asking themselves, “Why do we need a catastrophe walking among us?”

Dr. Bradford believes the killer is remorseful. That he ‘feels badly’ about what he did. It is beyond me as to how anyone, even a psychiatrist can truly determine as to whether or not a serial killer really feels badly about what he has done. He has never expressed remorse to the families of his victims when they attended his previous hearings. So much for the validity of his remorse

To give you some idea as to what his real feelings are about the murders he committed, consider the following statement he made a few years ago at a previous hearing about the families of his victims.

“These people should stop living in the past. I have gotten on with my life. Why can’t they get on with theirs?”

That is how a serial killer with no sympathy for his victims or their families feels about his crimes.

The hearing has been adjourned until June 21st.

For almost 20 years, the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital had every reason to believe that psychopathic killer David Kreuger was its only nightmare on its elm-lined streets. If there was a demon, he was it. Then along came Paul Delorme, and the damage he recently brought and wrought. And now, potentially, the Bedroom Strangler may be moving in.

If the members of the Review Board approve his transfer to the Ritz, then in my opinion, they have no concern about the welfare of the citizens of Brockville or anyone else in society.

As I see it, Russell Johnson should remain in the maximum security Oak Ridge mental health facility for the criminally insane for the rest of his life. I haven’t made that statement out of a sense of revenge (although that would be understandable) but rather for the security of all the citizens in society. I don’t think anyone (other than soft-headed psychiatrists) want to see this serial killer roaming the streets ever again.

Stanley Yaren responds to Justice Minister Andrew Swan

Re: Security must be tighter for Li, justice minister says (June 4). The provincial government’s reaction to the granting of a carefully considered slight increase in the liberty of Vincent Li as articulated by Justice Minister Andrew Swan is an example of the worst kind of political pandering and fear-mongering. It demonstrates a shocking lack of understanding of mental illness.

Swan joins those members of the public who would return to the days when the mentally ill were cast out of society to be incarcerated in prisons and asylums, never to see the light of day. The fact is that recovery from mental illness is possible and fortunately so because 20 per cent of the population may at some point require hospitalization for a mental disorder.

While the pain, suffering and anger of all those affected by this tragic episode is understandable, it is the reaction by this government and not the Criminal Code Review Board decision that is inappropriate. The chair, John Stephaniuk, and the members take their job very seriously and are, in my experience, a diligent, knowledgeable and thoughtful group of men and women. Criticism of the board for acting responsibly is unwarranted and improper political interference in the judicial process.

The attitude towards mental illness by some members of the public and as reflected by Swan’s remarks is stigmatizing and hurtful to people and their families living with mental disorders. Stigma and fear create barriers to treatment. They prevent individuals such as Li from seeking early intervention for mental-health issues that may have prevented this tragedy from ever occurring.

By far, most people living with mental illness are not violent, and when they are, it is usually the result of inadequate or no treatment. Rather than investing money in a fence around Selkirk Mental Health Centre, the government would do much more to prevent the uncommon occurrence of violence by mentally ill individuals by joining the efforts of the Mental Health Commission of Canada in reducing stigma and by investing in improving access to mental health treatment.

STANLEY YAREN, MD, FRCPC

Canadian Psychiatric Association

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/pandering-destructive-and-ignorant-95678169.html

Security must be tighter for Li, justice minister says

Manitoba Justice Minister Andrew Swan has quickly called for tighter security before Vincent Li will be allowed to have his walks. But will his voice be heard?

“Vince Li will not be allowed to leave the locked forensic unit at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre for brief outings until security measures are beefed up”, Justice Minister Andrew Swan said. Swan continued that the decision by a Criminal Code review board to allow Li to have brief escorted passes outdoors on the health centre’s grounds “will shock the conscience of Manitobans and indeed all Canadians.”

“In our view this order is contrary to the interests of public safety and seriously undermines public confidence in the Canadian system of justice,” he stated.

Swan wrote a letter to federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson outlining his concerns.
“We strongly urge that the Criminal Code of Canada should be amended to ensure that such a demonstrably unfit disposition cannot be made,” Swan said in the letter. “At a minimum, the Criminal Code should provide that public safety must be the paramount consideration before the Criminal Code Review Board.”

Swan said the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, which houses Li, will decide what security measures are needed.

While the statements made by Justice Minster Swan are appreciated they will do little to change the reality of the decision. The Supreme Court of Canada has clearly decided that the rights of Vincent Li are the only consideration before the Review Board.

There is clearly a need to amend the Criminal Code of Canada and that is the motivation of Tim’s Law. But as Justice Minister Andrew Swan is all to aware, to provide safety and security to the general public of Manitoba,  and the rest of Canadians, there needs to be some major changes and renovations to the facility that Vincent Li is housed in, Selkirk Mental Health Centre (SMHC).

This will require taxpayers dollars… is Justice Minister Andrew Swan lobbying for this from his provincial counterparts?

Vincent Li granted supervised hospital grounds pass… Review Board Rules

Less than two years after brutally murdering Tim McLean, the Review Board in Manitoba has decided that Vincent Li is well enough to grant staff supervised hospital grounds passes. This ruling was handed down today, despite the objections of their own Attorney General office that this would be ill advised and premature.

The order requires that two staff workers accompany Li and are equipped with either a two-way radio or a cell phone. The fifteen minute walks are to be incrementally increased to one hour, twice a day.

The order makes no mention of utilizing standard readily available technology such as the ankle bracelets used for tracking people under house arrest.

Read the complete order below:

PROVINCE OF MANITOBA
CANADA

Review Board

IN THE MATTER OF: Part XX.1 Criminal Code of Canada

AND IN THE MATTER OF: Vince Weiguang Li

ORDER

WHEREAS Vince Weiguang Li was charged that he:

on or about the 30th day of July, 2008, at or near the Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie, in the Province of Manitoba, did unlawfully commit second degree murder on the person of Timothy McLean;

AND WHEREAS on March 5, 2009 in the Court of Queen’s Bench, at Winnipeg, Manitoba, Mr. Li was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder;

AND WHEREAS pursuant to a Disposition made by the Review Board that came into force on June 5, 2009, Mr. Li has been detained in custody in a hospital upon conditions;

AND WHEREAS this matter coming on before the Review Board on Monday, May 31, 2010 for a Disposition Review hearing pursuant to Section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code of Canada, in the presence of Vince Weiguang Li;

AND WHEREAS the Review Board has heard and considered all of the evidence, including the testimony of Dr. S. Kremer, treating psychiatrist, the victim impact statements filed in these proceedings and the submissions by counsel which constitutes the record of these proceedings;

AND WHEREAS the Review Board has taken into consideration the need to protect the public from dangerous persons, the present mental condition of Mr. Li, his re-integration into society and his other needs;

AND WHEREAS it is reasonable and desirable and in the interests of Mr. Li that he continue to be detained in custody in a hospital upon conditions;

THEREFORE, pursuant to Section 672.54(c) of the Criminal Code of Canada, the Review Board orders that Vince Weiguang Li is to be detained in custody in a hospital, subject to the following conditions:

1.That he reside on the locked forensic ward at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, Selkirk, Manitoba;

2.That upon the recommendations of the treatment team, the person in charge of the hospital may grant staff supervised hospital grounds pass privileges, subject to the following provisions:

i) passes start at fifteen minutes and increase incrementally to a maximum of one hour, twice daily;

ii)the treatment team is of the opinion that his condition is stable and that it would be appropriate and safe for him to leave the locked ward;

iii)while he is away from the locked ward on any supervised hospital grounds passes, he is to be escorted at all times on a two-to-one basis by two staff members who are equipped with either a two-way radio or a cell phone;

iv)security staff at the hospital are informed when each grounds pass is to occur;

3.That if he is required to leave the hospital grounds for any reason, he is to be escorted at all times by a peace officer;

4.That he present himself before the Review Board as directed by the Chairperson thereof;

5.That he keep the peace and be of good behaviour.

TAKE NOTE that pursuant to Section 672.91 of the Criminal Code of Canada, a peace officer may arrest a person without a warrant at any place in Canada if the peace officer has reasonable grounds to believe that the person has contravened or wilfully failed to comply with a disposition made by the Review Board with respect to that person or any condition of it, or is about to do so.

THIS DISPOSITION comes into force on the 7th day of June, 2010, and shall remain in force until further disposition by the Review Board.

DATED this 2nd day of June, 2010, at Winnipeg, Manitoba.

John Stefaniuk, Chairperson,
Manitoba Review Board

Vincent Li Review Board Hearing…Carol de Delley Comments

Vince Li is unpredictably dangerous. Dr Yaren’s own testimony at the “trial” stated that Vince Li could suffer a relapse even while medicated, at any point in time in the future and that he could suffer a psychotic break as severe as the extremely inhumane episode that took Tim’s life.

Timothy suffered that particular Psychotic break… who could be the next to suffer Vince Li’s next psychotic break? Timothy’s human rights are the ones that were violated. Vince Li’s rights should not be considered more important here.

Canada needs to build a separate facility to house criminally insane offenders.  A very secure facility with fenced and monitored outdoor area where they can receive as much time outside as treatment requires them to receive.  A facility where they are detained for the rest of their natural lives. The “patient” gets the humane treatment and the public safety is protected.

If the insane individual commits a very violent murder,  that murderer insane, or not should never be free to repeat that behavior. A life for a life.  Thats my opinion I am not stigmatizing anyone.

Li  did it… Li may not be psychologically accountable but he is still criminally responsible. Thats why he goes before a criminal review board now. HE STILL COMMITTED THE CRIME OF MURDER and he needs to be held responsible for that.

The whole issue of NCR needs to be looked into and changed by the politicians who have the power to do it.

Sackville Teen not criminally responsible for murder.. family sought help prior

A Middle Sackville teenager whose family had been trying to get him psychiatric help has been found not criminally responsible for second-degree murder because of a mental disorder.

Judge Pam Williams made the finding today in Halifax youth court, accepting an expert opinion from a psychiatrist that the teen was psychotic when he killed a woman Feb. 5.

Joyann Wright, 49, died at her house on Hewer Crescent in Middle Sackville. She suffered multiple stab wounds and blunt-force injuries.

The name of the accused, who turned 18 last month, is banned from publication under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. (more…)

“Previously under the care of our mental health system”

A young lady writing her thoughts on the Vincent Li Review Board Hearing eloquently expressed her opinion, reasoning, and agreement with the professionals charged with the assessment, and treatment of Vincent Li.

In her concluding statement she raised a point that strikes at the very heart of  much of the debate surrounding individuals such as Vincent Li.

Brittany writes “   I’m a bit confused as to why they are making such a fuss about a guy walking outside for 15 minutes when they should be investigating how a person who was previously under the care of our mental health system could be released to commit such a horrific act in the first place.”

For many people there is an inherent distrust in the ability of of these “professionals” to adequately determine the “fitness” of these individuals to live amongst the general public.

The prosecution at the original “trial” was an inept show where everyone was in agreement and slapping themselves on the back for a job well done… a 2nd degree murder charge when the perpetrator acquires a weapon prior to boarding the bus?.. or the newspaper article he was allegedly reading in the days prior to the crime… allegedly because there never was a venting of the facts..

So the question of his first release may raise another question… did the professionals examine Li and find no condition requiring treatment? Again with no evidence presented at a “trial”, we are left to ponder.

Another “expert” (Dr Stanley Yarin) last year declared that under his care Li was responding well to treatment… after little more than a couple of sessions!

And now Dr Kremer has found that some sunlight and exercise may be just what the doctor ordered.

Excuse my skepticism but doctors with egotistical narcissistic personalities rushing to declare that they have “cured” persons who have committed heinous crimes does not bolster my confidence.

These professionals first need to actually perform their roles and duties with a sense of due diligence. That may actually inspire the general public to actually have some confidence in their ability to successfully diagnosis the subjects in their care.