A New Brunswick man who was found not criminally responsible after brutally killing his elderly neighbours in 2005 has been ordered to remain under treatment in a secure psychiatric facility.
A trial in 2008 determined Gregory Despres was suffering delusions and schizophrenia when he killed 74-year-old Fred Fulton and 70-year-old Verna Decarie in their Minto, N.B., home.
Both were stabbed to death and Fulton was decapitated with a homemade sword.
During a hearing today in Moncton, N.B., the New Brunswick Review Board was told there has been no real change in Despres’s condition and that he constantly refuses treatment.
Psychiatrist Dr. Louis Theriault says Despres, 38, should remain at the Shepody Healing Centre at Dorchester Penitentiary because he would be a risk to society if released into the community.
The board is to meet again before the end of this year to discuss a possible transfer of Despres to the Restigouche Hospital Centre in northern New Brunswick.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Mar. 17, 2021.