Psychologist testifies at Blanchard hearing
A psychologist who held numerous “emotion management counselling ” sessions with a violent sex offender detailed those interactions at a dangerous offender hearing Tuesday.
Robert McIntyre was the second of eight Crown witnesses to offer insights into the history of Lance David Blanchard, 60, who has spent a large chunk of his adult life incarcerated. He was first imprisoned in 1975, receiving three years for raping a mentally challenged girl.
Blanchard was found guilty in 2016 of aggravated sexual assault, aggravated assault, kidnapping, unlawful confinement, possession of a weapon and making a death threat in a 2014 attack against an Indigenous woman.
The 28-year-old victim, who died in 2015 in an unrelated shooting, cannot be named because of a publication ban.
McIntyre told the court the counselling sessions with Blanchard at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary were to address threats of suicide in 2007. He also wrote several National Parole Board assessments on Blanchard in which he recommended he undergo psychiatric assessments.
McIntyre said Blanchard possibly suffered from anti-social personality disorder, but he disputed an early parole assessment that suggested he suffered from paranoid schizophrenia.
If Blanchard is designated a dangerous offender, he could receive an indeterminate prison sentence.
The hearing is set to continue for the rest of the week. Time has also been set aside between Feb. 20 and March 16.