Calgary mass killer Matthew de Grood's 'absolute discharge' appeal dismissed

Matthew de Grood, appearing in Calgary court on April 22, 2014, is shown in this artist's sketch. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Janice Fletcher)

The Alberta Court of Appeal has dismissed an application for an "absolute discharge" from a Calgary man who stabbed five people to death at a house party in 2014.

Matthew de Grood was appealing a decision made by the Alberta Review Board last year, which determined he "still poses a significant risk to the public" and could not be released on conditions.

In a decision released Thursday, the court dismissed his appeal.

"It is clear the appellant was a serious danger to the public at the time of his offences, before he was diagnosed and began receiving treatment," the court said in its decision.

"He is undoubtedly much less dangerous now than he was then. However, his transition to unrestricted life in the community will not happen overnight, or at any discrete moment in time."

De Grood was arrested on April 15, 2014, following the fatal stabbings of Joshua Hunter, Kaiti Perras, Jordan Segura, Lawrence Hong and Zackariah Rathwell at a house party in the northwest Calgary's Brentwood neighbourhood.

He was found not criminally responsible (NCR) on May 25, 2016, after it was determined he was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the killings.

Since then, he's been held under supervision and his case has been reviewed on an annual basis by the Alberta Review Board (ARB).

The ARB decided against de Grood's application for an absolute discharge, which means he would be discharged of the offences with no conviction registered, last October.

De Grood's lawyer Stephanie Petrie appealed that decision, saying the board proceedings were biased, unfair and the ARB made critical errors.

"The Review Board ignored or misapprehended key evidence and erred in finding that he remained a significant threat to public safety," the court said.

"The Review Board erred by not considering all the mandatory factors in arriving at its disposition."

The appeal court found no bias in the ARB's decision and found the ruling was fair.

"The chair gave his ruling on the recusal application verbally, and the Board provided the appellant with a transcript of those reasons.

"There was no legal requirement for the chair to provide those reasons in any other format, or to supplement them with written reasons."

The appeal court also said that what Petrie suggested was "the Board ignoring or misunderstanding key evidence" was "merely factual findings with which the appellant does not agree."

"The Board is an expert tribunal including both lawyers and doctors and its findings are amply supported by the record."

However, the appeal court said there may come a time when de Grood would be "entitled to conditional or absolute release," but that time hasn't come.

"It is a journey for him," the court said.

"It was reasonable for the Review Board to conclude that the appellant still poses a risk of serious violent behaviour."

Barclay Hunter, the father of Joshua, says he is "very relieved" to hear of the decision made by Alberta's top court, but added de Grood's lawyer was "highly irresponsible" in pursuing the appeal.

"(We are) encouraged that their position was so strongly rebutted by the appeal court," he wrote in a statement to CTV News following the decision.

"I understand his lawyer is in place to advocate on his behalf but it is highly irresponsible of them all, his lawyer and his family, to pursue such a reckless position on his behalf, against the better judgement of his treatment team and the review board."

He suggests there need to be changes to Canada's justice system to ensure anyone who is deemed NCR after committing extreme violent crimes such as de Grood must serve a minimum period of time in an institution and be "closely monitored" for the rest of their lives.