Shooter’s treatment team seeks to ease restrictions

Additional privileges sought for Matthew Vincent Raymond, 53, at secure psychiatric hospital in Campbellton, including possibly unescorted outings with his mother

The treatment team for a mentally ill killer is seeking to give him added privileges at a secure psychiatric facility, including potentially unescorted outings in the community with his mother.

A New Brunswick review board hearing for Matthew Vincent Raymond, 53, resumed at the Restigouche Hospital Centre in Campbellton on Thursday.

Raymond infamously committed four murders the morning of Aug. 10, 2018, at an apartment complex on Brookside Drive on the north side of Fredericton.

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

He initially shot and killed Donnie Robichaud and Bobbie Lee Wright in the complex’s parking lot from an elevated position from his apartment, and then he killed Fredericton constables Robb Costello and Sara Burns, the first police officers to arrive on scene in response to a report of gunfire.

He was found after trial to be not criminally responsible for those crimes due to his mental state at the time, and he was remanded to the Restigouche for treatment, falling under the authority of the New Brunswick review board.

The review board oversees the cases of offenders exempted from criminal responsibility and carries out annual hearings to determine if they should remain in the secure facility for ongoing treatment, or if they can be released, either with or without conditions.

Release wasn’t on the table Thursday, as the hearing focused on a request from Raymond’s treatment team to grant him added privileges within Restigouche, which would include him going on outings outside of the psychiatric facility.

The hearing first got underway March 7, but it was adjourned so the Crown could get an expert opinion on a psychologist’s risk assessment of the patient.

The risk-assessment report was carried out by Restigouche psychologist Dr. Emilie Frenette, and the Crown got an expert opinion from Toronto forensic psychiatrist Dr. Scott Woodside, who has testified in some of the most notorious cases involving exemptions from criminal responsibility in Canada.

Raymond’s treatment team at Restigouche was asking the review board, chaired by Lyne Richard, to grant the patient “privileges 1 through 7,” though the risk-assessment report didn’t detail what those privileges would be.

No mention was made at Thursday’s hearing about what those privileges are either - save for one.

Unescorted outings with mother proposed

Rebekah Logan, a prosecutor representing the Office of the Attorney General, said Privilege No. 5 pertains to outings in Campbellton off the hospital grounds. Specifically, she said, it allows an offender to leave the facility accompanied only by a family member.

Dr. Ralph Holly, a psychiatrist at Restigouche who’s treating Raymond, said such outings typically see a staff member or two accompanying the patient and a family member.

However, he said, there’s also the flexibility with the privilege for such outings to be unaccompanied. It would depend on staff assessments of the situations, he said, and the need to achieve a balance.

“I think it could be [unaccompanied by staff],” Holly said. “I think his mom has the positive factors.”

The Restigouche Hospital Centre is a secure forensic psychiatric facility in Campbellton where offenders deemed not criminally responsible are held and treated. (Photo: Google)

But Logan countered that the offender’s mother, Shelley Raymond, doesn’t have the training or experience with mental illness to determine if her son might be in crisis if they were in the community on their own.

Holly said there’s always the option of calling the RCMP if something goes awry on such an unescorted outing. Logan asked if the police could be notified in advance of any planned outing, to which the treatment team answered that’s not usually done.

The prosecutor said her research showed the practice of notifying police in advance of offenders’ outings from psychiatric facilities has been adopted in several instances in Ontario and didn’t see a reason for not doing so in Raymond’s case.

Dr. Emilie Frenette’s risk-assessment report indicated Raymond is a low risk for imminent violence and that his overall risk is moderate.

But Logan challenged that assessment, noting that Woodside, who’s much more experienced in dealing with mentally ill offenders, pointed out that many of the tools used in developing the report were subjective and relied on Raymond self-reporting any issues or risk factors.

The prosecutor also asked Frenette how many such risk-assessment reports she’d penned previously, to which the psychologist said none. However, Frenette added she’d done several practice risk assessments with patients who’d committed violence on a level similar to what Raymond did.

‘I would suggest there’s full remission’

Frenette also acknowledged in the report that Raymond has “recent problems with insight and residual symptoms.” She noted his diagnosis of schizophrenia is still relatively new to him.

“He doesn’t have… a lot of knowledge about it right now,” the psychologist said, adding that she expects efforts to educate him about his condition will be made in the coming year.

Logan said enhanced privileges are only supposed to be granted if they’ll aid with treatment, and she asked how such privileges would benefit Raymond’s treatment specifically.

Frenette said eventually, for Raymond to be considered for a conditional discharge from Restigouche, the treatment team will need to see how he fares in the community. Seeing how he copes with stress and other potential triggers will require experiences outside Restigouche as part of rehabilitative efforts, she said.

The review board heard Raymond had been subjected to bullying - both verbal and physical - by other patients in a unit in which he’d been held previously, prompting a transfer to another unit. 

However, Holly noted the bullying has continued in his new unit. Fortunately, he said, Raymond has managed that stress well and hasn’t suffered setbacks as a result.

The psychiatrist said Raymond has made positive progress with his condition. Holly said the patient is on long-acting medication to manage the symptoms.

“I would suggest there’s full remission [of symptoms] … He has no delusions,” the doctor said.

“He has been forthcoming if he has any issues… No red flags… and he has no side effects.”

‘I’ll never forget them’

Raymond addressed the review board as well Thursday, reading from a letter he’d prepared beforehand.

He has respect for officers with the Fredericton Police Force and RCMP, he said.

“I’m very sorry for their loss,” Raymond said.

From left, Fredericton shooting victims Const. Robb Costello, Const. Sara Burns, Donnie Robichaud and Bobbie Lee Wright. (Photos: Submitted/Facebook)

His voice cracked with emotion as he tearfully expressed regret for what he put the police and other victims through, as well as the other residents of the apartment complex.

“I did not know in 2018 that I was schizophrenic,” Raymond said, noting if he had known, the entire tragedy could’ve been avoided.

Regarding the victims, he said tearfully, “I’ll never forget them.”

Victim-impact statements were filed with the review board, but none was read aloud at Thursday’s hearing.

Logan recommended against the extension of privileges, arguing the Restigouche staff hasn’t shown how any added privileges would enhance Raymond’s treatment.

She noted the patient’s crimes were serious and merited a more cautious, methodical approach when it comes to treatment.

“Of course public safety is of the utmost importance,” Logan said. “Our main concern is with risk.”

The treatment team really hasn’t been working with Raymond for that long - only two years, she said - and more time is needed for them to detect any potential patterns of concern or decompensation on Raymond’s part.

The reports show there’s “still a need for significant psychotherapy,” the prosecutor said, and his education about his condition needs to be a priority. She said it’s too soon to start granting privileges.

Logan said the risk assessment ought not be relied upon, given Frenette’s level of experience and the subjective tools that were included in the process.

“It is the Crown’s opinion that different tools should have been utilized,” she said.

If the review board does decide to allow Raymond to go for outings in the community, the prosecutor said, she urged the treatment team to notify the RCMP ahead of any such leaves from the facility.

‘We would suggest there’s no reasonable risk to the public’

Defence lawyer Adrian Forsythe took no issue with the suggestion of giving police advance notice of any outings in Campbellton, but he argued the additional privileges should be granted.

He said the treatment team’s management plan for Raymond is detailed and structured, and multiple medical professionals recommended the extension of privileges as beneficial to the patient.

Defence lawyer Adrian Forsythe (Photo: Gorham Vandebeek law firm website)

That includes Woodside, Forsythe said, who, despite his identification of the subjective nature of some of the tools used in the risk assessment, was supportive of Frenette’s overall conclusions.

The fact that Raymond showed restraint in the face of bullying by other patients, even when assaulted physically, shows he’s learning to manage his stress and emotional reactions to negative situations, the defence lawyer said.

Furthermore, he argued, while Raymond has only been at Restigouche for a couple of years, the staff has extensive experience in dealing with mentally unwell offenders who have been violent in the past. The review board should rely on that experience and knowledge, he said.

“We would suggest there’s no reasonable risk to the public,” Forsythe said, urging the board to grant the privileges.

After a brief period of deliberations among review board members, chairwoman Lyne Raymond said it was reserving its decision to an unspecified date, and would issue a written decision.

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