Dad of stabbing victim says families ‘forgotten’
CALGARY — The father of one of five young people stabbed to death at a Calgary house party in 2014 says the mental health board overseeing the killer’s treatment has been insensitive and disrespectful to the victims’ families.
Matthew de Grood was charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Zackariah Rathwell, 21; Jordan Segura, 22; Kaitlin Perras, 23; Josh Hunter, 23; and Lawrence Hong, 27. A judge found him not criminally responsible in 2016 because he was suffering from a mental disorder and did not understand his actions were wrong.
The Alberta Review Board decided this week to move de Grood from a secure psychiatric hospital in Calgary to one in Edmonton, where he could be granted unsupervised ground privileges and supervised day passes with staff or a responsible adult. It said he could eventually be placed in a halfway house with 24-hour supervision.
Gregg Perras, Kaitlin’s father, said the only part of the board’s decision he agreed with was to move de Grood to Edmonton, where more treatment options are available.
He said victims are “unimportant and forgotten” in a process that is meant to balance public safety with the interests of someone deemed not criminally responsible. “The Alberta Review Board, who is supposed to be impartial, unbiased and inquisitorial, was insensitive and disrespectful to the victims at the most recent hearing,” Perras said in an email Thursday.
Psychiatrist Sergio Santana, who heads de Grood’s treatment team, testified at the hearing last month that his patient is fully participating in his treatment and is trying to do the right thing.
That prompted jeers from family members of the victims and a sharp rebuke from the board chair. Victims’ loved ones have said de Grood should be institutionalized indefinitely and deemed high-risk.
One of the reasons for moving de Grood to Edmonton, the board wrote, is because it’s a “less toxic community environment.”
It described how a Calgary dental clinic cancelled a scheduled appointment with de Grood so as not to draw undue attention.
“Of note to the board is that the ‘fear’ was not of harm from de Grood or of his doing anything untoward. Rather the fear was externalized to what the general community might think or do if it became known that de Grood had received treatment at the clinic.”
The board’s report said de Grood’s schizophrenia and major depressive disorder are in full remission, but he remains a “significant threat to the public were he to relapse into a full psychotic state.”
Transferring de Grood to Edmonton to continue his treatment is the best way of protecting the safety of the public, it said.