A Priddis family broke down in tears outside of Calgary court Wednesday after their son's killer was found not criminally responsible (NCR) for the stabbing death of five young people at a house party two years ago.
A Priddis family broke down in tears outside of Calgary court Wednesday after their son's killer was found not criminally responsible (NCR) for the stabbing death of five young people at a house party two years ago.
Matthew de Grood fatally stabbed Josh Hunter, Katie Perras, Jordan Segura, Lawrence Hong and Zackariah Rathwell at a small house party in northwest Calgary on April 15, 2014.
Josh Hunter's parents Barclay and Kelly live in Priddis and attended de Grood's trial with their daughter Michaela and Hunter's grandmother Fran.
Hunter was 23-years-old when he was killed. He attended Red Deer Lake School and went to high school in Calgary. At the time of his death he was studying business at the University of Calgary and was a drummer for the band Zackariah and the Prophets with Rathwell. They had just had a successful EP release party at a downtown pub.
Crown prosecutor Neil Wiberg and defence lawyer Allan Fay both asked that de Grood be found not criminally responsible because of a mental illness.
Justice Eric Macklin agreed with three psychiatrists opinion that Matthew de Grood was suffering from a serious mental illness at the time of the stabbing and was incapable of knowing that what he was doing was wrong and found him not criminally responsible.
In the weeks leading up to the stabbing de Grood had become interested in the Illuminati, believed he was the son of God, that he was controlled by the sun god and was going to kill werewolves. He also was sharing conspiracy theories, heavy metal lyrics and a picture of Darth Vader dressed like a priest on Facebook. When police arrested de Grood they found garlic in his shirt and sock. He said it was to ward off vampires.
On the night of the killing, de Grood said he was having a religious discussion with Rathwell in the kitchen and felt Rathwell might kill him so he grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed him. de Grood told a psychiatrist he also heard a sun god tell him he had to kill Rathwell because he was going to kill him. He then stabbed Hunter, Segura and Perras, who were talking in the living room and Hong, who was sleeping on a couch.
Three independent psychiatric experts interviewed de Grood, as well as his family, friends and coworkers. They all determined he was experiencing a severe form of psychosis at the time that may have been brought on by schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or bi-polar disorder.
Macklin said it is heartbreaking to lose five talented and outstanding young people.
“It shakes the community to its very core,” he said.
Barclay Hunter wiped away tears outside the courtroom after the verdict.
In an unusual move, the families were able to share stories and thoughts about their sons, daughters, brothers and sisters on the second day of the trial.
Barclay Hunter said his son had the ability to make everyone around him feel good about themselves.
“If you got to know Josh you felt acknowledged, accepted inspired,” he said.
They plan on living their lives the way he would have, Barclay said.
“We cherish every second we had with Josh… he was deeply loved,” he said. “The only thing we can do to honour him is to be strong and do good things.”
Josh's mother said her life has been forever changed.
“I still have a hard time thinking about the rest of my life without him,” she said. “I'm so glad I had him and I'm so glad I met the man that he became.”
The families made a joint statement after the verdict.
“The end of this trial is not the end of this journey for us, we continue to be broken,” said Miles Hong, the brother of murder victim Lawrence Hong. “The finding of NCR will be a recurring nightmare for our families.”
de Grood's lawyer read a statement from his client.
“I'm sorry from the bottom of my heart,” Fay read out, breaking down several times.
In his statement, de Grood vowed to take care of his illness, take his medications and follow his doctor's orders for the rest of his life.
The Alberta Review Board will evaluate de Grood within 90 days. This period was extended from the usual 45 days to find a special location and to allow the victim's family to prepare victim impact statements.
Wiberg said he is considering applying to have de Grood declared a high risk NCR case. Wiberg requires the Alberta Review Board report in order to apply for a high-risk designation, he said. A high risk designation means de Grood would be assessed every three years, rather than every year and a judge would decide if he can be released back into the community, rather than the review board.
The victim's family said in their statement they would like to see de Grood declared a high risk NCR.
“The families would support the prosecution in seeking the designation of high risk NCR, which would give gravitas to the fact Matthew de Grood killed five people and support the system in ensuring that he is not a threat to the public,” Hong said.