Psychiatrists ask court for more time to assess brothers who raped teen

Doctors need more time to complete mental health assessments on two brothers with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder who brutally raped a Calgary teen.

Crown prosecutor Jonathan Hak said counsel received letters from psychiatrists David Tano and Yuri Metelitsa requesting a further three weeks to complete their testing.

The doctors had earlier done assessments on Cody and Corey Manyshots in which they couldn’t diagnose whether either brother had the syndrome known as FASD.

But after tests done by a private clinic that specializes in diagnosing the disorder determined both men suffered from FASD, provincial court Judge Terry Semenuk ordered further psychiatric assessments.

The brothers, who appeared in court Friday via closed-circuit TV from the Calgary Remand Centre, did not speak during their brief ap- pearance before Semenuk.

On June 2, defence lawyers Alain Hepner and Mitch Stephensen asked for further testing after experts at Medigene Services Inc. determined both brothers suffered severe forms of FASD.

Hepner said Metelitsa, who assessed his client for a possible mental disorder defence, may reach a different conclusion based on the Medigene report.

He said issues such as the ability to make decisions, intellectual comprehension and reading ability could play a factor in how the psychiatrist will assess his client.

“Dr. Metelitsa did not know this, he did not know what we know now,” Hepner said.

“We have to pursue that,” he said of a possible ‘not criminally responsible’ defence.

Stephensen, whose client was assessed by Tano, echoed Hepner’s concerns. Hak did not oppose sending the brothers for further evaluations.

“We need to have the psychiatrists indicate whether fetal alcohol spectrum disorder would have any impact on criminal responsibility, whether they are not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder,” Hak said.

“That seems unlikely, but in fairness, we have to get a psychiatrist to tell us that, and not the lawyers.”

The brothers earlier pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping, sexual assault causing bodily harm, robbery and uttering death threats after they snatched a 17-year-old girl off a Taradale street on Nov. 14, 2014.

They grabbed the victim from a Taradale bus stop and took her to a nearby alley, where they both sexually assaulted her. They then forced her to walk 20 minutes to their Martindale home where they kept her for hours and repeatedly raped her.

Both brothers remain in custody.