Richard Bain was 'one of the best foremen' at copper refinery

Richard Bain was the type of company man who put his heart into his work at the CCR refinery, one of his former colleagues told the court Monday.

"He would recognize the work we were doing. He would congratulate us on our work," testified Alain Goyer, who used to work under Bain at the copper refining and processing plant in Montreal East.

​Bain is on trial for the first-degree murder of Denis Blanchette, a lighting technician who was shot and killed outside the Parti Québécois victory party on election night, Sept. 4, 2012.

The defence is arguing that Bain is not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder.

On Monday, the defence called Goyer to testify about the type of man Bain used to be.

Goyer told the court how he and Bain play together in the company hockey league, and he would be teasingly call his supervisor "grandma" because he was older than the other players.

But he told the court that after a lockout at CCR in 2007, Bain came back to work a different man.

Goyer said the foreman he once described as "one of the best" was more impatient, bossy, and complained of headaches.

In January 2008, Bain retired.

The court has heard in previous testimony from friends and family that in the year following, Bain became a completely different person.

'A hermit out in the bush'

One of Bain's older brothers, David, told the jury that he was close with his youngest brother, and that in the years leading up to the deadly election-night shooting, Richard morphed into a different man.

In 2009, "Richard went on [the antidepressant drug] Cymbalta and completely changed," David Bain told the jury.

"I still love him, but I wish we could go back in time," David Bain told the jury on Friday.

"I feel for him. I feel for the family and friends of the victims. It's tragic," he testified while holding back tears.

GALLERY: Richard Bain's off-the-grid cabin

David Bain testified that after going on Cymbalta, his brother abruptly split up with his girlfriend of 20 years, and moved out to his cabin in the woods in La Conception, Que.

"He became very hyper, paranoid," his brother said, explaining how Bain became fixated on the H1N1 pandemic.

The court heard that Bain isolated himself in his cabin in the woods, stockpiling food and ammunition "like a hermit out in the bush."

The news made him crumble

David Bain told the court that after the 2012 shooting, he saw TV footage of a man being led away in handcuffs, yelling "The English are waking up."

But he said it never occurred to him that it could be his brother.

He didn't find out until a friend left a message on his voicemail.

"She said 'I'm sorry to hear about Richard. Whatever we can do let me know,'" David Bain told the court.

When he called her back for an explanation, and she told him his brother had been arrested for the deadly shooting, David Bain said:

"I just crumbled … My knees just gave out."