The doctor treating Allyson McConnell since she drowned her two children took the stand at McConnell’s second degree murder trial.
Doctor Alberto Choy and his team have been assessing McConnell since she was admitted to Alberta Hospital in the spring of 2010 – soon after she had killed her two young sons and tried to kill herself.
McConnell has said she doesn’t know why she killed her children, but her doctor testified he believes she took their lives as an extension of her own suicide.
McConnell maintains she does not remember killing her two children, only taking pills and alcohol and waking up in a bathtub with a hairdryer under water.
Choy testified it’s likely that McConnell drowned her children, Jayden and Connor in their Millet home, then she overdosed on pills.
“Her amnesia may be related to a real psychological need to protect herself from the awful events.”
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Choy called this a complicated case, saying he doesn’t believe Allyson’s lack of memory is deliberate, but says it’s possible she lost memory from a concussion after jumping off a bridge or after she drowned her children.
He also told the court Allyson spoke of flashbacks.
“Those include her seeing herself holding down one of the children in the water.”
On Monday, Allyson testified that she has had suicidal tendencies since she was 15 after her father sexually abused her.
Choy says has been keeping a close eye on Allyson after she tried to kill herself again while in Alberta Hospital.
“Those thoughts were no strangers. They’d come and they’d go,” Choy told the court, “she was suffering from a major depression. A severe one.”
Choy says that McConnell kept that depression and memories suppressed, saying it was her survival or coping method.
However, Choy admits many of the assessments are based on Allyson’s own words, they are inconsistent.
In his opinion she was able to form intent to drown her boys, wanting to keep them with her when she died.
Whatever happens as a result of the trial, Choy says she needs continuing mental health support to deal with her ongoing depression and the death of her children.
The defence has wrapped its case. Closing arguments are scheduled for Thursday.
With files from Kendra Slugoski
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