Fairfield Island killer deemed not criminally responsible by mental disorder, detained at Forensic Psychiatric Hospital
68-year-old man who killed his 66-year-old wife cannot be named due to publication ban on victim's identity
A man who killed his wife and injured a 37-year-old male at a home on Fairfield Island in Chilliwack a year and a half ago, was found not-criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder (NCR-MD) in BC Supreme Court in Chilliwack on Friday (July 11, 2025).
The 68-year-old man was arrested and charged with second-degree murder on after what police described as an incident between family members at the house on Teton Avenue.
RCMP members were called to the house on Jan. 17, 2024, at approximately 1 p.m., according to a statement from the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) at the time. Officers arrived to find a 66-year-old woman deceased and a 37-year-old man suffering from non-life-threatening injuries. The 68-year-old suspect was also present, and was arrested without incident.
The man's name cannot be reported because of a publication ban on information that could identify a victim. Because the victim is the wife of the killer, naming him would identify the victim.
Immediately after the incident, IHIT decided against releasing the name of the victim or the accused saying that “in consideration of the evidence collected, it is not believed that the release of the victim’s name at this stage would further the investigation in any way.”
The 68-year-old appeared via video link from Surrey Pretrial Centre on March 28, 2025. His age showed as he slouched slightly, a grey horseshoe-shaped strip of hair on his mostly bald head.
When asked if he understood the proceedings, he said only one word: “Yes.”
It came up in court at that time that he was suffering from some sort of mental illness. Crown counsel Aaron Burns told the court that there would be an agreed statement of facts in the case, and they had ordered a forensic assessment in an advance of a likely finding of NCR-MD.
After the court appearance on July 11, 2025, the disposition is listed as “NCR Detention to Hospital.”
Those found NCR-MD in B.C. are usually sent to the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam. The NCR-MD verdict is final and comes with an indeterminate time in custody, because the offender has not been found guilty but is mentally ill. This special stream is designed to protect the public while treating mentally ill individuals fairly and appropriately.
"It recognizes that some persons who receive NCR-MD verdicts may, by virtue of their illness, be dangerous after the verdict, while others will not," according to the British Columbia Review Board, the independent tribunal whose sole task is to review cases of this kind.
The core of the Board's mandate is to periodically assesses NCR-MD individuals for their dangerousness and significant threat to the safety of the public.
“A 'significant threat to the safety of the public' means a real risk of physical or psychological harm to members of the public that is serious in the sense of going beyond the merely trifling or annoying,” according to the Review Board's website. “The conduct giving rise to the harm must be criminal in nature.”
If the Board concludes that an NCR offender is not a significant threat, it must order an absolute discharge. If the individual is deemed a threat, the Board either orders the offender released subject to conditions or detained at a hospital. The Board is required to do what is “necessary and appropriate,” a phrase that has been interpreted by the courts as the least onerous disposition for the accused.
“The Review Board process is intended to be rehabilitative, not punitive, and so the dispositions are intended to safely reintroduce an accused to the community.”
The board is made up of a combination of lawyers, psychiatrists, and others experienced and involved in mental health and/or legal areas, and it is usually, but not currently in 2025, chaired by a judge.
Not a 'get out of jail free card'
While many members of the public consider NCRMD a “legal loophole,” according to a 2022 UBC study, data from a team of researchers across Canada showed that on the contrary, people found not criminally responsible are actually more likely to be detained for longer periods of time.
“Our prior research suggested that people view an NCR-MD finding as a get-out-of-jail-free card," said Dr. Tonia Nicholls, a distinguished scientist with B.C. Mental Health Substance Use Services and professor of psychiatry at UBC. "What we set out to do in this study was to directly address those assumptions and misunderstandings.”
Specifically, the research team found:
• People found NCRMD by the courts are 3.8 times more likely to be detained than convicted offenders, and 4.8 times less likely to be released from detention;
• One year after a verdict, 42 per cent of NCRMD cases were still in detention, compared with one per cent of their convicted counterparts;
• One year after a verdict, 73 per cent of NCRMD cases were still under the purview of review boards, while 41 per cent of convicted offenders still had legal supervision at that time.
This study was published in the January 2022 edition of the journal Frontiers of Psychiatry.
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Paul J. Henderson
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