Angelo Gabriel Monfort
Image Credit: Facebook
June 20, 2018 - 8:00 PM
VERNON - A 22-year-old man from the Philippines will go before an independent tribunal now that he’s been found not criminally responsible for killing his mother last summer in Vernon.
Angelo Gabriel Monfort’s lawyer, Glenn Verdurmen, says his client was in a severely altered state on June 20, 2017, the night of the offence, and could not have appreciated the morale wrongfulness of his actions.
“There was early and fairly pronounced evidence that it was not his normal behaviour,” Verdurmen says.
He says it was clear to him after meeting the accused and seeing the evidence that mental illness was involved and requested that Monfort be moved to a forensic psychiatric hospital for an in-depth assessment. That report supported that Monfort was in such a state that he would have been unable to understand his behaviour was wrong.
Verdurmen wouldn’t comment on the specifics of what happened except to say that the circumstances were “horrific” and “bizarre.”
“This is someone who was part of a close-knit family, they’d come from the Philippines together — his brother, mother and himself — they were getting an education... All sorts of things were happening for him and then this total and utter disconnect with reality occurred,” Verdurmen says.
A Supreme Court Justice heard the case earlier this week in Vernon and pronounced Monfort not criminally responsible for the crime due to mental disorder.
Now, Monfort will go before the B.C. Review Board, an independent tribunal create under the Criminal Code of Canada. The tribunal’s job is to craft a disposition that protects the public and attempts to address the underlying mental disorder. Three outcomes are possible: an absolute discharge, a conditional discharge or detention in custody in a hospital.
Verdurmen says Monfort suffers from complex mental issues, but is optimistic his health will improve with appropriate treatment. He says Monfort has the support of his family, which will help with his recovery.
“What I’ve seen is a mild-mannered, well spoken young man,” Verdurmen says.
Monfort remains in custody awaiting his hearing before the review board.
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