Vernon woman who grabbed boy found not responsible

A Vernon woman who grabbed a boy on a bus and attempted to take the child away from his great-grandmother has been found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

On Oct. 11, 2016, Gabriel Hunter Gibson got on the B.C. Transit bus after Rebecca Johnson and her four-yearold great-grandson, who can only be identified by the initials D.G., had boarded the vehicle.

During the bus trip Gibson spoke to Johnson, asked how old the boy was and where they were going.

When the bus stopped at a transfer point and Johnson and D.G. got up to leave the bus, Gibson also got up and grabbed the boy by the shoulder. According to a statement Johnson later gave to police, Gibson told her: “No, you’re not taking him, he’s my child.”

A male passenger intervened and was able to pry Gibson’s fingers from D.G., allowing the boy and his great-grandmother to leave the vehicle.

When the bus driver helped Gibson to get off the bus, the boy and his great-grandmother, who died in October 2017 due to failing health, were allowed back on the bus.

In September, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Keith Bracken found Gibson guilty of attempting to remove a child from and against the will of his lawful parent or guardian and of assaulting the child.

Following the verdict, the Crown sought to have the judge find that at the time of the offence, the accused was not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.

The accused was opposed to the finding and wished to be sentenced in the normal way. A psychiatrist who interviewed Gibson and provided a report for the court noted the accused’s extensive mental health history, which included multiple hospitalizations and several prior incidents involving children.

The psychiatrist said in his report that Gibson believes that she telepathically speaks to everyone and assumes that everybody is listening.

“The history is obviously one that is very long,” said the judge. “It often seems to focus on children that she believes she has, and there are now at least two occasions, perhaps three, where she has interfered or allegedly interfered with other children.”

The report said there was a history of “psychiatric illness” with a well-established diagnosis of a psychotic disorder.

The judge concluded on the evidence provided by the psychiatrist and the evidence he had observed in court that Gibson at the time of the offence was suffering from a mental disorder exempting her from criminal responsibility.