Answers coming soon in Lionel Desmond killings, N.S. officials say
Almost a year after former soldier Lionel Desmond killed his family and then himself in rural Nova Scotia, an official response shedding light on the tragedy is near.
The province’s medical examiner, Dr. Matthew Bowes, says he’s “very close” to deciding whether to conduct a fatality inquiry and Premier Stephen McNeil says the province will give the family some answers, regard- less of what Bowes decides.
“I’m expecting that something will be happening soon,” Mcneil said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
On Jan. 3, 2017, the retired corporal shot his wife Shanna, 31, their 10-year-daughter Aaliyah and his 52-year-old mother Brenda, before turning the gun on himself. Desmond had been diagnosed with PTSD and post-concussion disorder after completing two difficult tours in Afghanistan in 2007.
Advocates say an inquest is long overdue.
“The family deserves to have answers and some closure,” says Peter Stoffer, a longtime veterans advocate and former Nova Scotia MP. “Unless there’s an inquiry, there’s always going to be suspicion that the government at either level may be responsible in some way.”
Family members say Desmond was a radically changed man when he was medically discharged and returned home to Upper Big Tracadie in 2015. They say his outgoing sense of humour had dimmed and, more importantly, he seemed withdrawn and in a defensive posture much of the time, as if he was still in combat mode.
Within hours of the killings, relatives came forward to complain Desmond did not get the help he needed to cope with civilian life and they demanded a public inquiry to determine what went wrong and how to prevent similar tragedies.
Two of Desmond’s sisters, twins Chantel and Cassandra, have led a high-profile campaign calling for an inquiry. Neither woman responded to requests for interviews this week.
Bowes has the option of conducting an inquiry under the province’s Fatality Investigations Act.
However, such investigations are rare in the province. The last time a fatality inquiry was held in Nova Scotia was almost 10 years ago.
Dr. John Butt, the former medical examiner for both Nova Scotia and Alberta, has said Nova Scotia should order an inquiry. And several veterans groups and individuals have also come forward to call for action, including Vets Canada and Wounded Warriors Canada.
“Our thoughts are with Lionel Desmond’s family and we support their effort to learn the full details associated with this tragedy,” Scott Maxwell, executive director of Wounded Warriors Canada, said in a statement Wednesday. “It’s important that this situation becomes focused less on political manoeuvering — between the province and the federal government — and more on learning from the review of this case so we, as a nation, can do better by our ill and injured veterans and their families.”
The federal and provincial gov- ernments have spent the past 11 months largely avoiding the issue, says Trev Bungay, a retired soldier who at one point served in Afghanistan as the mastercorporal in charge of Desmond’s unit in the 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment. Both saw heavy combat amid a rapidly growing list of Canadian casualties.
“Everybody wants to push the blame onto somebody else instead of fixing the problem,” says Bungay, co-founder of Trauma Healing Centers, which offer treatment for veterans, first responders and civilians suffering from PTSD, trauma, chronic pain or disabling illness. “Nobody wants the answers because they know the answers are going to put everybody at fault — both governments ... How many times does something like this need to happen before they sit down and talk about it?”
Bungay spent 18 years in the military, which included four combat tours in Afghanistan. Like Desmond, he struggled with PTSD.
“I came home and I went through this exact same thing,” he said.