Mother of Brentwood stabbing victim doesn’t believe killer can be cured
Posted Apr 2, 2017 8:15 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Alberta Review Board is set to get an update this week on Matthew de Grood’s mental health treatment, three years after the Calgary man stabbed five young people to death at a house party.
A judge found him not criminally responsible last year because he was suffering from a mental disorder at the time.
Rhonda-Lee Rathwell is the mother of Zackariah Rathwell, one of the victims.
She says she wants de Grood to be given a high-risk designation.
“I don’t believe that he can be cured or he can ever be safe in the public,” said Rathwell.
“How do you ever come to the conclusion that if we medicate him he’ll be okay and will never do it again?”
A high-risk designation could mean hearings would take place up to every three years, and unescorted passes into the community could be denied.
Chris Summerville is C.E.O. of the Schizophrenia Society of Canada.
He says he can understand why loved ones of the victims would have a hard time believing de Grood may one day be well enough to re-enter the community.
“Victims don’t want to hear that because they’re hurting. They’re hearts are broken. Their lives have been torn apart. Their lives will never be the same,” says Summerville.
He says some of the biggest misconceptions about Schizophrenia are that it can not be treated and that people who have it are inherently violent.
“The most common label is that people with schizophrenia are dangerous and violent and not really treatable.”
This week’s hearing comes a week before the third anniversary of the killings.
