WATCH: The lawyer for a man accused of stabbing an 11-year-old boy on a Newfoundland soccer field says he can relate to the young suspect’s mental health issues. Ross Lord tells us why.
HALIFAX — Understanding why Nicholas Layman allegedly stabbed a young boy in the neck, on a Newfoundland soccer field, is impossible. But Layman’s underlying condition is something his lawyer, Mark Gruchy, understands better than most — mental illness.
“I can relate with any young person who is being separated from the rest of the world on the basis of this attribute,” Gruchy told Global News.
Gruchy is arguing 20-year-old Layman is not criminally responsible for charges of attempted murder, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon, stemming from the stabbing of the 11-year-old boy in Conception Bay South on Sept. 25, 2014.
But he’s not apologizing for Layman, who is schizophrenic, he just wants others to get the help they need.
READ MORE: Nicholas Layman fit to stand trial for N.L. soccer field stabbing
As a teenager, the highs and lows of Gruchy’s own mental illness were devastating. Bipolar disorder, formerly known as manic depression, forced him to drop out of high school.
“I got to a place where I was experiencing cycles, at the time, of intense depression and self-loathing, mixed with irritability and anger. A lot of sleeplessness.”
Gruchy lucked into a government program tailored to people with mental illness, offered by the College of the North Atlantic.
The program not only enabled him to complete high school, a springboard to his higher education and law degree, he said it saved his life.
“If I had not found my way into that program, and recovered my dignity, I am confident that I would be dead,” Gruchy said. “I was intensely suicidal. I was very despondent. I had no hope.”
He knows others feel hopeless, too.
That’s why he’s been active in the Mental Health Association and on a committee advising the Newfoundland government.
READ MORE: N.L. soccer field stabbing prompts mental health support questions
He also speaks at school assemblies, educating students about mental illness.
“Upwards of 70 of you will have depression. Many of you already do,” he told students in the crowded gymnasium at Gonzaga High School in St. John’s.
Gruchy said a wide range of mental ailments is likely to afflict 20 to 25 per cent of Canadians at some point in their lives.
But, he noted, mental illness only receives seven to eight percent of healthcare dollars — a percentage that’s even lower in Newfoundland and Labrador.
His client’s family has suggested the soccer field stabbing could have been prevented if Layman received more support from the mental health system.
Gruchy’s activism is an inspiration to many — including Donna Kavanagh, whose instruction helped turned around his life.
“Mark does that while maintaining a very successful law career and also having an illness, because the illness doesn’t go away. The illness is still there.”
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