Accused murderer said `crazy' things

FREDERICTON • The sister of the man charged with four murders in Fredericton two years ago says she began seeing changes in her brother in early 2017.

Matthew Raymond, 50, is charged with first-degree murder in the 2018 shooting deaths of Donnie Robichaud, Bobbie Lee Wright and Fredericton police constables Robb Costello and Sara Burns.

Patricia, whose last name is being protected by the court, told jurors at his trial Wednesday that her relationship with her brother was “amicable” in 2015 and 2016.

She said she would see him four or five times a year — at family meals, holidays or birthdays. Patricia got emotional when she told the court Raymond had always remembered her children’s birthdays and that he was the typical uncle.

“He’d be really happy to see them and pick them up in the air,” she said, crying. Raymond wiped his eyes as he listened to his sister’s testimony.

She said he sent strange emails to her in March 2017. One of them included a petition that related to the federal government, the details of which she didn’t specify.

Patricia said she refused to sign and told him, “Please don’t send me this stuff.”

She said he sent her an email reply stating she needed to “get on board” and that he was “defending our rights.”

After that, Patricia said she didn’ t speak to her brother for 13 months. She said she saw him next at their mother’s house in April 2018 when they were preparing the home for sale.

Patricia said Raymond told her he was doing research that would help keep them safe. He also told her, she said, about his time biking in the woods.

Patricia said she warned him to check his body for ticks. He responded to the caution, she said, by telling her that ticks and Lyme disease were hoaxes created by the government.

“What did you think about that,” defence lawyer Nathan Gorham asked.

“The word that comes to mind is just crazy. How can you think like that?” she responded.

The defence admits Raymond shot the victims but says he should be found not criminally respon - sible because of a mental disorder.

Patricia told jurors that when she found out where the shootings had oc - curred on Aug. 10, 2018, she thought her brother might have been hurt as opposed to being the shooter. The shootings took place in the parking lot of an apartment complex in which Raymond lived.

Gorham asked what went though her mind when she learned that four people were dead and her brother was charged.

“People who were shot, and their families,” she replied.