It was impossible to foresee that Abdulla Shaikh, suffering from schizophrenia, would commit the irreparable and would become the presumed author of the three murders which occurred at the beginning of the week in Montreal and Laval, estimates the former lawyer of the suspect killed Thursday. The 26-year-old man’s psychiatrist had however assessed last March that the man represented a “significant risk” to public safety.
“It’s not easy because we don’t want to make mistakes. Nobody wants to make a bad decision, but we don’t know the future,” sighed the To have to Friday François Legault, shaken by the acts allegedly committed by his former client.
Me Legault, who has nearly 40 years of experience in criminal law, represented Mr. Shaikh last March in the context of an annual review conducted by the Commission for the Review of Mental Disorders of Quebec (CETM) on the risk posed by his client for public safety.
This was the fifth hearing conducted by this judicial body since a verdict of not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder had been delivered to the place of the one who had been accused of several offenses in the summer of 2018.
Crimes and assessments
On July 19, 2018, Abdulla Shaikh notably set fire to his Canadian passport using a candle while he was outside Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau airport, where he was caught on the next day in a waste warehouse while probing “the doors leading to a controlled area”, indicates a decision of the commission rendered on March 29. In the following days, he presented himself once again at this airport, then at that of Mirabel, where he was arrested “for attempted break and enter”.
The young man, who suffered from schizophrenia and other mental health disorders, had been treated at least once at the Institut Philippe-Pinel, a high-security psychiatric hospital.
However, it was the CISSS de Laval that was monitoring him at the time of his death, which occurred Thursday morning, confirmed The duty. A delegation of power had also been granted to the treatment team so that it “can benefit from rapid and effective means of intervening if the mental state of the accused were to deteriorate, endangering the security of the public” — such as forcing the detention of the latter, for example — notes the decision of the CETM.
A report by psychiatrist Martin Vézina in anticipation of this annual review also concluded that the young man, whose follow-up he had taken over in December 2019, represented “a significant risk” for public safety because ” of his mental state. However, the expert considered that Mr. Shaikh should not be detained in a psychiatric institution, but rather continue to live in freedom under certain strict conditions: to remain with his parents, in Laval; agree not to use drugs; and submit to urine tests when requested by the healthcare team. The CETM ruled along the same lines as this report.
These are, in general, “very tight conditions” which are imposed on people with mental problems who represent a risk to public safety, assures moreover in an interview with the To have to Friday the head of the psychiatry unit of the Philippe-Pinel Institute, Mathieu Dufour. However, a balance must be found so that the authorities make the decision “which is the least custodial” for the patient while protecting the population.
In this context, “the system is not necessarily infallible”, he agrees.
“The system has failed”
Thus, five months after the CETM’s decision, the young man committed irreparable harm by killing in cold blood two citizens who were on the public highway, in the boroughs of Saint-Laurent and Ahuntsic-Cartierville, on Tuesday. , then a 22-year-old young man who was riding a skateboard on Wednesday evening in Laval. Each time, the victims were shot in the head.
After an exchange of gunfire between the police and the suspect, the latter was shot Thursday, around 7 a.m., in front of a motel in Saint-Laurent.
However, “we had no clues that he could be so dangerous”, affirms the lawyer François Legault, in reference to his former client. The CETM also mentioned in its decision that the mental state of the individual had begun to improve in recent months, even if he continued to trivialize his behavioral problems and his criminal history.
“It’s a demonstration that the system has failed,” says criminologist Maria Mourani, who believes that “our system for managing offenders with mental disorders needs to be revised” in light of this case. According to her, Quebec should consider creating a specialized tribunal for mental health cases.
Experts are also questioning how the young man was able to obtain a firearm, given his heavy criminal history. Mr. Shaikh was charged in 2016 with obstructing the work of a police officer, possession of property obtained by crime, assault causing bodily harm, sexual assault and uttering death threats.
“If it’s an illegal weapon, we fall into an area that will affect all organized crime and bikers,” notes former detective sergeant at the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) André Gélinas, who hopes that the ongoing police investigation will shed light on this point.
The Quebec Minister of Public Security, Geneviève Guilbault, took part on Friday in a working meeting with representatives of the SPVM, the Sûreté du Québec and the Laval police in order to “know the needs of the police forces. and thus to be able to “facilitate their work to continue to ensure the safety of citizens” in a context of resurgence of violent events in recent months, indicated to the To have to his press attaché, Louis-Julien Dufresne.
Tenant in Toronto
The man killed by the SPVM lived a few years ago in a residential area of Pickering, east of Toronto, confirmed The duty.
On the spot, Ali Syed, who still resides in the semi-detached one-storey house, explains that he rented a room from Mr. Shaikh a few years ago, but has retained few memories of the young man. “He didn’t stay long,” said Mr. Syed, who was surprised to learn that his former tenant had been shot dead by Montreal police. “I don’t watch the local news much,” he explained.
With Etienne Lajoie
It’s a demonstration that the system has failed […] our system for managing mentally ill offenders needs to be overhauled Maria Mourani”