B.C. man not criminally responsible for 'psychotically driven' murder of his mother, judge rules

WARNING: This article contains graphic details of violence.

A B.C. man who killed his mother with an axe has been found not criminally responsible for the murder because of his severe and treatment-resistant schizophrenia.

Kevin Christopher Webster, 32, hacked at his mother Moirin's head repeatedly while she lay sleeping in her Gibsons home on Dec. 27, 2020, according to a B.C. Supreme court judgment.

Justice Geoffrey Gomery said he was convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Webster was guilty of second-degree murder, but it was clear the killer's actions were "psychotically driven."

Evidence presented to the judge — including a letter written by the murder victim — showed that Webster believed his family members had hired hitmen to kill him so they could steal an inheritance he'd received from his grandmother.

"[The attack] was grounded in an entrenched paranoid belief that he was the target of a murderous conspiracy. What is striking is that it was also uncertain and ambivalent. In simple terms, Mr. Webster did not know what to think," Gomery wrote on May 5.

"I am persuaded, on a balance of probabilities, that when Mr. Webster attacked his mother, his mental disorder had so disrupted his thinking that he was not capable of rationally evaluating his circumstances and deciding what to do."

Mother warned of potential for harm

The judgment lays out the circumstances of the murder, but it also touches on some of the difficulties faced by many people in B.C. struggling to access treatment and support for mental illness.

The court heard that on Christmas Day 2020, just two days before the fatal attack, Webster had made three visits to the local hospital emergency room, asking to speak to a psychiatrist who'd recently supervised his care. On the third visit, he simply asked to see any doctor at all.

But Webster was not willing to say why he needed to speak with a doctor, and he left without seeing anyone, according to the judgment.

A forensic psychiatrist who reviewed Webster's cases noted that his schizophrenia had an "early and insidious onset" and did not respond well to typical antipsychotic treatments, the judgment says.

Throughout Webster's life, his mother had been his strongest advocate, the psychiatrist told the court.

According to the judgment, Moirin Webster was well aware of the danger her son could pose during a state of psychosis if he wasn't receiving adequate care.

In a letter to staff at a residential care facility called Sumac Lodge, where Kevin Webster was admitted in February 2019, she warned that without proper supervision, her son might harm himself or others because of extreme fear and anxiety.

A possible target might be "a member of the family he holds responsible for taking the contract out on him to kill him in order to gain access to his inheritance," Moirin Webster warned in the letter, which is excerpted in the judgment.

"God forbid that anyone in the above scenario should come to any kind of harm. It would not only be tragic but would be another blow to the stigma and fear associated with poor mental health, schizophrenia most of all," the letter said.

Sumac Lodge discharged Kevin Webster to a local shelter in November 2020 because staff couldn't manage his behaviour. His mother took him in after an involuntary stay at a hospital that December, and he was still living in her basement at the time of the attack.

The decision to find Webster not criminally responsible means that his future detention and treatment are in the hands of a review board. For now, he is being held in custody at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam.