Brentwood 5 families struggle with prospect Matthew de Grood’s treatment could change

Less than a year after they first gave victim impact statements, the families of the five young Calgarians killed in the city’s worst mass murder were back on the stand as the Alberta Review Board decides the next step in the killer’s treatment.

The medical team of Matthew de Grood, who in July was found not criminally responsible for stabbing and killing the victims in April 2014, are recommending he be allowed to walk the outside grounds of the hospital where he’s being treated, under supervision.

The other recommendation is he be allowed to be escorted to emergency medical appointments in Calgary.

Suffering from a mental disorder, de Grood fatally attacked 21-year-old Zackariah Rathwell, 22-year-old Jordan Segura, 23-year-old Josh Hunter, 23-year-old Kaitlin Perras and 27-year-old Lawrence Hong at a house party in Brentwood.

He gave a statement through his lawyer Allan Fay Thursdsay, who told the court he knows what he did was wrong.

“If I had any knowledge of my illness at the time, it would not have happened,” he said.

Speaking after the hearing, Rathwell’s mother Ronda-Lee said she has no doubt that he feels horrible, but he should display that with his actions.

“If he truly is sorry and never wants it to happen again, then he should voluntarily commit himself to be institutionalized or to stay hospitalized forever,” she said. “He cannot tell the difference between the voices in his head and reality.”

“When he doesn’t, he kills people quickly and efficiently.”

During the hearing, forensic psychologist Sergio Santana called de Grood a model patient that has been open to treatment and has shown no reluctance to medication, adding there’s no evidence he is faking anything.

However, Santana also noted that any reintegration would have to be slow and prudent and that if he were to go off of his medication, he could relapse into a psychotic state and be very dangerous.

Gregg Perras, Kaitlin’s father, said there’s still an issue with the recommendation since the grounds have no fences.

“The idea that a person responsible for killing five people is allowed to walk around unfenced grounds without any security personnel is beyond belief,” he said. “It’s an open parking lot, God knows what else there are along there, Royal Oak is right there, there’s malls right there.”

The families also take exception with the long-term prospect of his re-integration into society, however cautious and slow it may be, saying they see no reason he should ever be conditionally released.

Furthermore, Perras told reporters they don’t understand the suggestion by the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service that they wouldn’t pursue a high-risk designation for de Grood.

“We will be aggressively pursuing detailed feedback from the Crown’s office,” he said.

The board also heard that de Grood has Internet and email access, but not social media.

“That’s obviously monitored (Internet), but no one’s monitoring his emails,” he said. “There seems like a process issue here where somehow you need to monitor what he’s emailing to people if he’s going to have outside access to unfenced area, it doesn’t make any sense.”

Perras said they don’t have a lack of confidence in the medical specialists involved, it’s more so about the entire NCR process.

Fay said hearing from the victims families was very difficult for his client.

“Now that Matthew has insight into what his actions were and what happened, he feels it more deeply than perhaps he would’ve felt it before,” Fay said. “His mental illness is presently fully under control as a result of the medication and therapy he’s been taking.”

As for the families wishes to have him kept away from society, Fay said he understands that sentiment.

“They’re grieving and I would not expect otherwise,” he said. “But the law is clear, the only way he remains locked up forever is if the criteria set out in the Criminal Code is met and that is he continues to show a significant danger to the public if released.”

“That’s a decision that is not going to be made for a long, long time and we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”