A BC Review Board tribunal decided to keep a man in custody for another 12 months due to his “fragile brain and risk of impulsive violence.”
Theodore Alexandre Junior Laliberte, 42, was the subject of a hearing on Oct. 20 in the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam. Judges deemed him unfit to stand trial in Prince George Provincial Court for alleged assaults against University Hospital of Northern BC (UHNBC) nurses.
Laliberte has been a patient at UHNBC’s primary care unit since 2019 due to a series of disabling head injuries. He was accused of punching a nurse in the jaw on Jan. 13, 2023 after she delivered the juice t ahat he ordered.
“Mr. Laliberte cornered the nurse and would not let her leave until she bribed him with cake,” said the tribunal’s decision.
Just over a month later, on Feb. 22, 2023, Laliberte allegedly pushed a door into a nurse. After she struck her head, he was accused of putting her in a headlock. A maintenance worker came to the nurse’s rescue.
Provincial Court Judge Martin Nadon decided Aug. 30, 2023 that Laliberte was unfit to stand trial, as did Judge David Simpkin, on Sept. 12, 2023. Both referred Laliberte’s cases to the Review Board.
Both incidents prompted “code white” calls for UHNBC security staff to help with a violent and aggressive patient. In fact, Laliberte had been the subject of 300 such calls since his 2019 admission.
Laliberte was also allegedly violent and aggressive to his former common-law wife and her children.
“In our view, and with considerable regret, we find that a custodial order reviewable within 12 months is the least onerous and least restrictive disposition which is both protective of the public and meets Mr. Laliberte’s needs,” said the tribunal, chaired by Brenda Edwards.
The order allows for escorted community access, depending on Laliberte’s mental condition and only with “a high level of supervision and oversight.”
Due to Laliberte’s history of “unprovoked and unpredictable violence in both domestic and hospital settings,” he is prohibited from possessing firearms or other weapons and from consuming alcohol.
