The history of violence and psychiatric disorders of the man suspected of having committed a double murder in Vaudreuil-Dorion on Thursday raises several questions.
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With his history, why was Fabio Puglisi still at large?
“It’s the law that requires that, from the moment someone is declared not responsible […] It is a commission which assesses whether the person represents a danger. The law has set the bar very high, in the sense that if it is not a serious danger for society, the person must be released,” explained psychiatrist Gilles Chamberland, in an interview on the show “Le Bilan” .
According to Dr. Chamberland, the Mental Disorders Review Board interprets this criterion to release certain patients.
“Psychiatric patients when stabilized are not more dangerous, perhaps even less than the general population. On the other hand, when they stop taking their medication and if they have committed actions in the past, unfortunately they are at risk of committing the same type of actions and sometimes even worse,” indicates the psychiatrist.
The latter nevertheless mentions that when assessing the serious danger, it is necessary to consider the risk that the patient will stop taking their medication.
Furthermore, the suspect was accused last week of attacking an unknown woman last November.
Given his background, was it justified to release him before his trial?
“In this case, if indeed he was arrested not very long ago in an arrest which seems to have been heavy-handed, it is clear that this individual seemed to be in the process of decompensation. Perhaps something could have been done when he was released while awaiting trial. Perhaps have him evaluated before releasing him and we might have realized that indeed, he is much more dangerous than we think,” says Dr. Gilles Chamberland.
“If he was arrested recently and we simply released him and scheduled a trial for him a month later, perhaps we missed,” he adds.
To see the full interview, watch the video above.