Violent mental patient faces removal from Manitoba

A mentally ill man with a history of aggressive behaviour should be transferred to a province that has a maximum-security mental hospital, Manitoba Justice and mental health officials say.

Earl Joey Wiebe, 26, appeared Monday before Manitoba's Criminal Code Review Board (CCRB) in Winnipeg for an annual hearing to review his detention at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre (SMHC), where he had been treated since being found not criminally responsible for the death of his stepmother, Candis Moizer, in Niverville.

The woman's throat had been slit and her bedroom set on fire.

Wiebe is currently being held at the Winnipeg Remand Centre on charges of assault, uttering threats, mischief and possession of a knife for a dangerous purpose after he was caught last month hiding a knife, drugs, alcohol and cash in the ceiling tiles of his private room at SMCH. He was removed from that facility after he set his pants on fire on Sept. 19, resulting in his arrest by Selkirk RCMP. His next court date is Oct. 16.

At the review hearing, Crown attorney Corrine Deegan said Wiebe will likely remain in remand unless a medical transfer back to a mental health facility is ordered. SMHC, located about 50 kilometres north of Winnipeg, is Manitoba's only long-term secure psychiatric facility.

The head psychiatrist at SMHC, Dr. Steven Kraemer, testified Monday Wiebe is manipulative and has circumvented security at the hospital many times. Kraemer told the five-member CCRB panel he's worried that if security is increased to deal with Wiebe, they would be turning the hospital into a jail.

Wiebe  also had a romantic relationship with a nursing aide who has since been fired, Kraemer said.

Wiebe previously escaped from medical escorts during  an appointment at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre on Sept. 27, 2006. He was arrested in Victoria and returned to Manitoba about two weeks later.

The board  will issue a decision in Wiebe's case in the next few days.