HALIFAX – Krista Snow believes that her friend Raymond Taavel would still be alive today had a psychiatric patient not been let out on an unescorted leave.
On April 17, 2012, Taavel was beaten to death outside a bar on Gottingen Street in Halifax. Andre Denny, a patient at the East Coast Forensic Hospital, was charged with second degree murder. He had failed to return to the hospital from an unescorted leave.
“It seemed to me it was an easy fix. How could that happen? How could they let a violent person with mental illness out?” Snow said.
“Did we let Raymond down? We’re letting down everyone if the system is broken.”
Dr. Aileen Brunet, the clinical director at East Coast Forensic Hospital who is also an assistant professor of psychiatry at Dalhousie University, says individuals at the hospital under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Code Review Board have the ability to access the community.
Brunet says that individuals found unfit to stand trial or who are not criminal responsible for offences due to a mental disorder can still have community access if the review board has deemed it.
In the case of Denny, Brunet tells Global News, “Mr. Denny was under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Code Review Board and was provided community access at that time.”
On the one year anniversary of Taavel’s death, the hospital says it has implemented changes for patients out on unescorted leaves.
“Any individual that goes AWOL, their passes are now automatically held for 72 hours, there has to be an administrative review done of the AWOL and there also has to be a critical review of the AWOL,” said James MacLean, the program leader for East Coast Forensic Hospital.
MacLean adds that the hospital is working on the recommendations from a report looking into the circumstances of Taavel’s death and has implemented eight out of the 15 of the recommendations for the hospital.
“We think it will lead to a process where it is a more formalized, more enhanced type of system that will further enhance public safety,” he said.
Brunet says community visits are critical for patients.
“The system that governs such individuals is meant to be a rehabilitation system instead of a punitive system.”
“These are individuals with mental illness and our focus is on providing treatment and rehabilitation with the ultimate goal where possible of safe re-integration into the community,” she said.
While Snow is happy that change is being made, she adds that it will never be enough.
“Absolutely not, no, never. It’s a moving wheel. It’s got to continue to move,” she said.
In a moving gesture, rainbow flags were flown all over the city Wednesday in remembrance of Taavel. From city hall to the provincial legislature to the very street where Taavel was killed, the flags flew as symbols of a life violently taken away and a hope that it never happens again.
Denny’s preliminary inquiry will take place in July.
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