Friends of nurse killed by mother seek accountability in mental-health system
Friends of a nursing graduate who was killed by her mother during a psychotic episode want the mental-health system to change.
Both the Crown and defence believe Christine Longridge should be found not-criminally responsible for the slaying of her daughter Rachael Longridge. Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Wayne Renke plans to announce his decision in the case Wednesday morning.
Outside the courthouse on Friday, a group of Rachael Longridge’s closest friends leaned on each other for support and wept as they spoke about sitting through the trial and the need for change.
Longridge’s friend and fellow nurse Danielle Borque said the health-care system and providers must be held responsible.
“As a nurse, it is very troubling to hear something I’ve committed my entire life to, to be one of the reasons we all are here today,” Borque said, holding back tears.
She said it will be hard to have trust in the system when patients suffering from mental illness can’t access health care in an appropriate manner.
Court heard that Christine Longridge had been in and out of hospital and, considering her mental deterioration, was perhaps discharged too soon. Additionally, when she was discharged, she was given half the dosage of lithium she had previously been taking.
Defence lawyer Dino Bottos said Longridge is tormented by killing her own daughter who was trying to care for her. He added his client will never recover.
“It’s a tragedy you cannot see any silver lining to,” Bottos said. “You can’t see any good side or positive consequence. This is a situation where all we can hope for is she is cared for in a humane fashion and be treated as a patient as opposed to a murderer in a prison.”
Christine Longridge believed her son Michael Longridge was the Messiah and that the end of the world was near. In her delusional state, court heard, she believed she needed to kill her daughter and herself in order to save her son.
Forensic psychologist Dr. Andrew Haag testified that the mother’s condition had been deteriorating. The night before she killed her daughter, she had been pacing back and forth and appeared agitated.
As Rachael Longridge started driving her mother back to the hospital, her condition appeared to improve and she took her mother back home. As experts testified, while it may have appeared her psychotic episode was subsiding to the untrained eye, she was still at risk for a psychotic episode.
If Christine Longridge is found not-criminally responsible, both lawyers have recommended the judge send a disposition hearing to the Alberta Review Board to determine where she will go and what treatment she will receive.
Bottos said the role of the Crown prosecutor is to ensure the verdict is not found too easily when describing how both sides could have agreed to the not-criminally responsible recommendation.
Renke said as the judge it is up to him to make a decision on whether she is not-criminally responsible by reason of a mental disorder plea based on Section 16 of the Criminal Code and previous decisions. He said it is possible for the court to make a legal finding that contradicts expert findings of notcriminally responsible by way of mental disorder.