B.C. Premier David Eby told reporters at an unrelated news conference Tuesday morning that 'an independent person' will look into the circumstances that led to the man, 64-year-old Blair Evan Donnelly, leaving the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam, B.C.ETHAN CAIRNS/The Canadian Press
B.C. Premier David Eby says he is livid that a man with a history of violence was released on a day pass from a psychiatric hospital, only to allegedly stab three people at a festival in Vancouver’s Chinatown.
Mr. Eby told reporters at an unrelated news conference Tuesday morning that “an independent person” will look into the circumstances that led to the man, 64-year-old Blair Evan Donnelly, leaving the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam, B.C., including the decision-making process health officials followed. He said that work had already begun.
“I am white-hot angry that this person was released unaccompanied into the community to have a devastating impact on all the hard work of all of these community members,” the Premier said.
Mr. Donnelly has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault, and remains in custody after Sunday’s attack at the Light Up Chinatown festival. The three people stabbed, a man and woman in their 60s and a woman in her 20s, were left with severe but non-life-threatening wounds, police told a news conference Monday.
In 2006, in Kitimat, B.C., Mr. Donnelly stabbed his teenage daughter Stephanie to death, but was found not criminally responsible in 2008 because of a mental disorder. He was sent to the psychiatric hospital, a 190-bed facility on the grounds of the former Riverview Asylum.
A year later, while on temporary leave from the facility, he attacked another person, Mr. Eby noted.
“I cannot fathom how someone who murdered his daughter was released in 2009, went out and stabbed somebody else, would then be released again, unaccompanied, somehow able to go out and buy a knife, go to Chinatown and stab three people. How is that possible?” Mr. Eby said. “We’ll make sure there’s nobody else that’s on a day pass that’s in a similar situation, to ensure the community is safe.”
The hospital is a secure facility that treats people who have been found not criminally responsible for crimes, or who are unfit to stand trial because of mental disorders. After a judge finds an accused person is not criminally responsible or unfit for trial, the British Columbia Review Board decides on the person’s care, including whether they can be freed to live on their own under conditions meant to protect the public, such as a prohibition on possessing weapons.
If a three-person review board panel – made up of a lawyer, a psychiatrist and a member of the wider community – deems the person a danger to the community, they must remain in custody. But they are still eligible for escorted or unescorted visits to the outside world if a hospital director vouches for their mental health.
Each case is reviewed periodically, until the review board either discharges the person completely or finds they are now fit to stand trial and should be returned to court.
An April 13 decision by the review board, obtained by The Globe and Mail, said Mr. Donnelly could go on daytime visits and even sleep outside the hospital for up to 28 days in a row if the director of care there decided he didn’t pose a threat to himself or the public. Several of the 11 conditions the board placed on these outings related to Mr. Donnelly abstaining from any drug or alcohol use. The director also has a right to ask him for a urine test to prove he is following the order.
It was on one of these visits that Mr. Donnelly allegedly committed the stabbings.
The Provincial Health Services Authority declined an interview request Tuesday afternoon and directed questions about the stabbings to Vancouver police. Blaine Bray, a spokesperson for the health authority, said in a statement that public safety is the primary aim of Forensic Psychiatric Hospital staff when patients are given the privilege of leaving the facility.
“With respect to day passes: on a general basis for any eligible individual, prior to granting leave or time in the community, the treatment team considers a variety of factors – including the patient’s progress, and mental status – and a review process is followed, which requires the approval of the BC Review Board,” Mr. Bray said.
Public statistics from the review board show that the total number of accused under the board’s jurisdiction has declined in the past four years. There were 256 people in that situation in 2021-2022.
In 2008, a B.C. Supreme Court judge said Mr. Donnelly, a devout man, believed that God wanted him to murder his wife and daughter and interpreted multiple innocuous events leading up to the girl’s killing as signs. They included his dog playing with a certain chew toy, and a friend choking on a cup of tea.
With a report from the Canadian Press
Mike Hager