PORT HAWKESBURY, N.S. –
An inquiry right into a triple homicide dedicated by a former soldier in Nova Scotia heard Tuesday from a psychiatrist who mentioned Lionel Desmond understood what he was doing was flawed when he killed three relations and himself in 2017.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Scott Theriault testified that the previous infantryman understood his actions had been morally and legally flawed despite the fact that he was affected by extreme post-traumatic stress dysfunction, main despair, a borderline persona dysfunction and borderline delusions about his spouse.
Theriault’s testimony is necessary as a result of the inquiry has heard from one other psychiatrist who confirmed Desmond had suffered from dissociative episodes that left him believing he was reliving the traumatic, violent occasions he skilled whereas serving in Afghanistan in 2007.
A few of Desmond’s kinfolk have additionally mentioned that after he was medically launched from the navy in 2015 and returned house to Nova Scotia, he suffered flashbacks and typically seemed to be in “fight mode.”
Theriault, nevertheless, mentioned that even when Desmond was affected by full-blown delusions, that would not have been sufficient to absolve him of legal duty.
The forensic psychiatrist additionally mentioned that the tragic occasions that unfolded in rural Nova Scotia on Jan. 3, 2017, may have been prevented if Desmond’s psychological well being remedy had not been interrupted through the 4 months earlier than the killings.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Nov. 2, 2021.
