Struggles remembered

Lingering questions about N.S. murder suicide

As Nova Scotia’s health system continues to grapple with the disturbing case of Lionel Desmond, two of his sisters have come forward to shed new light on what happened to the former Canadian soldier, who was transformed from a fun-loving family man to a paranoid killer after serving two tours in Afghanistan.

“His shell came back, but that beautiful soul inside of him became a dark cloud,’’ Cassandra Desmond, one of his twin sisters, said in one of her first in-depth interviews this week.

It’s been almost six months since the murder-suicide in Upper Big Tracadie, in which Desmond killed his wife, mother and daughter.

Even though the killings fuelled a national debate about how Canada treats former soldiers, sailors and airmen living with PTSD, the RCMP and government officials have said little about a case that has raised questions about what happened to Desmond, and how such a tragedy can be prevented from happening again.

On Friday, a senior Nova Scotia health bureaucrat publicly apologized to the Desmond family for miscommunication that led to a delay in setting up a meeting to discuss an internal review of the man’s interaction with the health-care system.

“I did (apologize) in the sense of the frustration that they are experiencing in being able to come together with us,’’ said Colin Stevenson, the Nova Scotia Health Authority’s vicepresident of quality. “It was miscommunication on my part.’’

Earlier in the week, Cassandra and her twin sister Chantel demanded a judicial fatality inquiry, and they spoke at length about their brother and his struggles with his mental illness.

Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and postconcussion disorder after his deployment in 2007, Desmond was 33 when he fatally shot his 52-year-old mother Brenda, his 31-year-old wife Shanna, and their 10-year-daughter Aaliyah in January. He then took his own life in the family’s rural Nova Scotia home.

Before he was deployed to Afghanistan, Desmond was a healthy, animated man with an infectious sense of humour and an endless capacity for hard work, Chantel Desmond told The Canadian Press.

“He was one of the happiest guys,’’ she said during an interview at her sister’s home in Antigonish, N.S. “You could be down in the dumps and he would lift you up. He was awesome.’’

However, Lionel Desmond was a radically changed man when he returned home from Afghanistan, and not much had changed by the time he was medically discharged in 2015, his sisters said.

They talked about how his sense of humour had dimmed and, more importantly, how he seemed withdrawn and in a defensive posture much of the time.

“He was still in combat mode,’’ Chantel Desmond said.