By Canadian Press

Crown expert says alleged election night shooter not psychotic during killing

Aug 3, 2016 | 10:30 AM

MONTREAL — Accused election night shooter Richard Henry Bain was unlikely manic, depressed or psychotic the night he allegedly shot and killed a man outside the Parti Quebecois victory party in 2012, a report by the Crown’s expert witness says.

“It is my opinion, with reasonable medical certainty,” forensic psychiatrist Joel Watts wrote, that Bain was able to appreciate the nature and quality of his alleged acts and knew they were wrong.

Watts’ report was entered into evidence on Wednesday.

He wrote the accused allegedly started shooting outside the Montreal venue where PQ supporters were celebrating their victory because he was “unhappy at the results of the provincial election and the imagined effects on his fishing business.”

Bain, 65, has pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree murder, three counts of attempted murder and two arson-related charges in connection with the shooting outside the Metropolis nightclub in Montreal on Sept. 4, 2012.

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Bain’s lawyer is arguing he is not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

The defence’s expert, forensic psychiatrist Marie-Frederique Allard, testified previously that Bain was probably psychotic due to an undiagnosed bipolar disorder and the effects of taking anti-depressant medication.

Watts rejected that theory in his report, which was distributed to all 14 jurors, and concluded Bain acted out of anger against Quebec sovereigntists.

“According to multiple witnesses (including friends and family) who interacted with him in the weeks and days leading up to and including Sept. 4, Mr. Bain appeared to talk in a way that was normal for him. His behaviour was goal oriented and organized,” Watts wrote.

The accused allegedly parked his car outside the venue, took a loaded semi-automatic rifle and 9mm pistol out of the car as well as a canister of gasoline and road flares.

The Crown says Bain fired one shot before his rifle jammed, killing lighting technician Denis Blanchette and injuring another stagehand, before setting a fire at the back door of the venue. He allegedly pointed his pistol at an officer and tried to shoot before being arrested.

Bain had told doctors he took several pills of the anti-depressant, Cymbalta, the night of the shooting, which made him “high as a kite” and gave him the “guts” to carry out his mission he says was ordered by God.

Earlier Wednesday, Watts told the jurors that Bain would “thrust forward” symptoms during 10 hours worth of interviews with the accused in 2015, suggesting it was a sign of someone faking or exaggerating an illness.

Watts said Bain would spontaneously talk about how much energy he had while taking the anti-depressant Cymbalta and suggested the kind of effect the drug had on him the night he allegedly shot and killed a man.

He said Bain told him — unsolicited — in one interview that “when you’re taking Cymbalta you don’t remember things. You can’t function properly.”

The doctor called it a “classic thrusting forward” of symptoms.

“It is my opinion that Mr. Bain did not take such an overdose,” Watts wrote. “There is no clear corroborative evidence from his medical records that he took such an overdose.”

Watts said that Bain would spontaneously talk to him about how much he hated “Quebec separatists” and also accused a government bureaucrat of being a “separatist” over troubles he was having obtaining a licence for a fishing business.

The bureaucrat was “separatist to the core,” Bain told Watts.

The trial continues Thursday.

Giuseppe Valiante, The Canadian Press