Fredericton shooter OK’d for hospital absences

Review board gives approval for Matthew Vincent Raymond, 53, to have community outings from secure facility, potentially even with mother, without staff supervision

A man who shot and killed four people in Fredericton five years ago while suffering from schizophrenic delusions will be allowed to leave a secure psychiatric hospital for outings in the community.

The New Brunswick Review board, which oversees the dispositions of offenders deemed not criminally responsible for their actions due to mental illness, issued a written decision Friday in the case of Matthew Vincent Raymond, 53.

Raymond killed two civilians and two Fredericton police officers the morning of Aug. 10, 2018.

He shot the four victims - Donnie Robichaud, Bobbie Lee Wright, and constables Robb Costello and Sara Burns - outside from inside his apartment at 237 Brookside Dr.

Matthew Vincent Raymond is seen in this 2018 photo. (Photo: Don MacPherson/file)

After trial, Raymond was deemed to be not criminally responsible for those murders due to a mental disorder at the time of his offences, and he was remanded to the Restigouche Hospital Centre, a secure psychiatric facility in Campbellton, for treatment

At a hearing at Restigouche in April, Raymond's treatment team lobbied the review board to give the patient additional privileges at the hospital, including unescorted absences from the facility with his mother in Campbellton.

Dr. Ralph Holly, one of the Restigouche psychiatrists treating Raymond, said such outings with family members for patients remanded to the facility are usually done with a staff member or two accompanying them.

But there's also flexibility in the privilege to allow outings with a family member to be unaccompanied, depending on assessments, progress and specific situations.

Prosecutor Rebekah Logan, representing the Crown, opposed the notion of the killer’s mother taking him out of the hospital without supervision, arguing she doesn’t have the training or experience to know if her son might be in crisis or volatile.

“I think his mom has the positive factors,” Holly told the review board earlier this year, noting that if something went wrong during an unescorted outing, there’s always the option to call police.

Logan suggested in such a circumstance, the police ought to be notified in advance of a planned outing, but Raymond’s treatment team said Restigouche staff doesn’t usually do that.

In a written disposition issued Friday, the review board approved such supervised outings for Raymond.

"It is further ordered that the administrator of the Restigouche Hospital Centre implement a program for the safe custody and rehabilitation of the accused with the Restigouche Hospital Centre," it directed.

Among the elements of that program, the board wrote, would be unit transfers, accompanied privileges within the hospital, accompanied privileges on the property of Restigouche and the Campbellton Regional Hospital, and "accompanied privileges in Campbellton with staff member."

The Restigouche Hospital Centre is a secure forensic psychiatric facility in Campbellton where offenders deemed not criminally responsible are held for treatment until deemed safe for release. (Photo: Google)

However, it also ruled that Raymond could be allowed to leave Restigouche if "it is appropriate, in the opinion of the person in charge of the hospital, for the accused to be absence from the hospital for medical reasons or for any purpose that is necessary for the accused's treatment, if the accused is escorted by a person who is authorized by the person in charge of the hospital."

A structured plan would have to be in place to manage any risk arising from his absence from the psychiatric facility, it said.

The wording of the new order seems to leave the door open to Raymond's mother, Shelley Raymond, being authorized to act as an escort, depending on the circumstances.

"Nothing in this order prevents the accused and his mother to have face-to-face meetings at the hospital as long as they comply with this order and that the meetings are recommended by the treatment team and authorized by the person in charge of the Restigouche Hospital Centre," the order states.

In its written decision, the review board expressed concern Raymond remains dangerous but that easing restrictions can be done if it’ll advance his recovery.

"... The New Brunswick Review Board came to the conclusion that the accused still poses a significant threat to the safety of the public, but that privileges may be granted for the purpose of treatment," it stated.

However, at the April 6 hearing, the board received conflicting assessments on the level of risk Raymond represents.

Restigouche psychologist Dr. Emilie Frenette filed a risk-assessment report with the board indicating Raymond poses a low risk to reoffend.

However, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Scott Woodside, tasked by the Crown to offer his expert and more experienced opinion, expressed more caution.

"He indicated that the test that uses self-reporting [that Frenette employed] can be useful information. However, because of Mr. Raymond's tendency to under-report, the information to perform the assessment might be limited," the review board decision states.

Raymond will continue to be detained at Restigouche to undergo treatment.

Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.