Man with motel rampage in his past sent to revived mental health court
A Saint John man who once admitted to going on a rampage in a local motel room will appear before the newly reconstituted mental health court Wednesday.
David Andrew Breau, 30, was due to be sentenced Friday on multiple charges, including theft and breaching an undertaking, but provincial court Judge Henrik Tonning said Breau will get the chance instead to receive a structured treatment plan.
That plan will result from the more collaborative meeting Wednesday involving a judge, the prosecutor, and defence counsel. It could also include a probation officer, psychiatrist, psychologist, mental health nurse, or other health professionals.
"We're trying to help you," said Tonning.
Breau's pre-sentence report and court assessment did not indicate any psychiatric conditions that would make him unfit for trial, said Tonning.
But they did identify a number of mental health issues that need to be addressed in a setting more structured than his "father's basement," said the judge.
Complaints over treatment in jail
Breau seemed distressed at the prospect of spending even a few more days in jail.
He has complained that correctional staff are denying him his medication.
He asked the court for permission to go to the Ridgewood Addiction Treatment Centre.
Tonning explained that it could not be arranged immediately.
And he said he was reluctant to take the chance of releasing Breau over the weekend, without more supervision than his parents might provide.
"Things blow up," said the judge.
Tonning said Breau could refuse to take his medication or start "snorting coke" again.
"And the wheels come off," he said.
Breau persevered and told the judge there was "a major abuse of power" at the jail, where he said he was being refused access to his prescriptions.
The judge agreed that "there were issues for sure."
"You're not the only one who makes those complaints," Tonning said.
Still, Tonning insisted that Breau would remain in remand until next week.
Part of manic episode
In a hearing back in November 2015, Breau told the court that the incident at the motel was part of a manic episode.
At that appearance, it was Judge Andrew Palmer who noted that Breau would have been a candidate for Saint John's mental health court.
However, at that time, the program, which opened as a pilot project in 2000, had been suspended since 2013, following the retirement of the supervising judge, Alfred Brien.
When the province announced the program would return in November 2017, the justice and public safety minister said its success could not be overstated.
"Eighty-five per cent of the cases [Brien] heard did not result in a re-offence," Denis Landry said.
