Psychologist takes stand in last day of testimony at Matthew de Grood trial

A forensic psychologist took the stand in the last day of testimony at the Matthew de Grood trial, as the defence finished its case and both sides prepare to move into final submissions.

Dr. Andrew Mark Haag first met with de Grood in July 2014, after the murders of five young people at a house party in April of that same year.

Standing before a packed courtroom, Haag outlined the time he spent with the now 24-year-old and how he came to the conclusion de Grood was psychotic at the time of the murders.

His independent testimony was remarkably similar to the testimony of two psychiatrists called on by the defence the day before.

“At the time of the index offences, my professional opinion was that he suffered at the time from schizophrenia,” Haag said.

He was given the chance to review crime scene photos, autopsies, health care records, police reports, the preliminary inquiry, witness statements, audio files, text messages, even de Grood’s Internet search history which included pornography, dating websites and conspiracy theories.

According to the doctor, it took him almost de Grood’s entire stay at the Alberta Hospital Edmonton to review the material due to it’s “voluminous amount.”

Haag conducted psychological tests and went so far as to ask de Grood “outlandish” questions that he felt psychotic people wouldn’t answer in order to test de Grood on whether he could be faking his symptoms.

“I believe he had a legitimate psychotic disorder,” he testified. “He thought there were conspiracies against him from those at work and that people were spreading rumours about him.”

“One of the reasons he left work early (the night in question) was that he was afraid of vampires.”

de Grood had apparently told Haag he felt the apocalypse was going to happen that day and that a blood moon would occur in the evening.

Haag says de Grood was facing multiple delusions, and it wasn’t just one theory; he’d share something unique with several different individuals.

The accused told Haag of the “demonic” voice, which he attributed to the Egyptian god Anubis and the message he was given, that he had to “kill them before they kill you.”

“He had thought his victims were part of the Illuminati. He also thought there could be an outbreak of vampires,” Haag said.

The psychologist also told defence lawyer Allan Fay that he wasn’t surprised a 90lb police dog was unable to bring down de Grood, due to his super strength in a psychotic state.

Later in his cross examination, he was questioned on any potential concerns and maintained he was confident de Grood couldn’t be faking the symptoms of a mental disorder.

“He was aware something cataclysmic was going to happen and that he was going to play a central role,” Haag said. “He knew he killed people. The key for moral wrongfulness is why did it occur, and his statements don’t answer that question.”

“I’m reasonably confident that he was psychotic at the time. Can I completely discount alternative hypotheses? No I can’t.”

In Haag’s psychological report, unsealed by Justice Eric Macklin Thursday, de Grood expressed some concern about what will happen next.

“During clinical interview, Mr. de Grood noted that he was anxious about his current legal situation. This being said, he noted that he does not have any meaningful concerns about finances or the future. Mr de Grood noted that his only meaningful concern was the outcome of his trial. Mr. de Grood denied a history of panic attacks.”

“It is the opinion of Dr. Haag after review and assessment that Mr. de Grood has a dirsorder that is primarily of a psycchotic nature, given the presence of auditory hallunciantions, it is most likely that Mr. de Grood has schizophrenia.”

“During clinical interview, when asked what his parents think about the current event, Mr. de Grood noted that they are not happy with it. Mr. de Grood stated that his parents believe that this is very tragic … and a case of mental illness.”

“Dr. Haag reviewed evdience for this report that would indicate that Mr. de Grood likely did have psychotic experiences of multiple varieties. Moreover, Mr. de Grood’s shift to psychotic behaviour/perceptions appeared to be realtively rapid (i.e. in the quantum of weeks). From multiple sources, Mr. de Grood was noted to have been preoccupied with conspriaces and his thoughts were noted to be scattered/disorganized.”

“In summation, Dr. Haag believes, in the balance of probabilities that Mr. de Grood was suffering from a disease of the mind at the time of the alleged offences.”

According to Haag, the “not criminally responsible” ruling is rare in the previous cases he’s assessed.

Final submissions begin on Tuesday morning.