Ex-soldier’s symptoms grew worse, inquiry told

Mentally ill veteran killed family, self in 2017

GUYSBOROUGH, N.S. — A nurse who assessed Lionel Desmond two months before the mentally ill veteran killed his family and himself in 2017 says his symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder appeared to be getting worse during a period in 2016 when he wasn’t receiving any treatment.

Heather Wheaton, a mental health crisis clinician, told a provincial fatality inquiry Tuesday she met Desmond on Oct. 24, 2016, when he showed up with his wife Shanna at the emergency room at St. Martha’s Regional Hospital in Antigonish, N.S.

At the time, Wheaton filled out a mental health assessment form, noting the former infantryman was suffering from interrupted sleep, nightmares, loss of appetite, aggression towards objects, conflict with his wife and increasing anger, depression and anxiety.

As well, Wheaton noted that Desmond was diagnosed with PTSD in 2011, had paranoid ideas about his spouse, lacked concentration and was “not sure how to live as a civilian” since his discharge from the army in 2015 — eight years after he served in Afghanistan.

Wheaton concluded that Desmond had thoughts of suicide, but she stressed he did not seem to have a plan or any real intent.

A psychiatrist later assessed Desmond’s risk of suicide as “low.”

Wheaton’s notes indicate Desmond received treatment at the Ste. Anne’s Hospital operational stress injury clinic in Montreal between June and August of 2016, but Desmond said there had been a two-month gap in followup treatment because of a snafu with the federal Veterans Affairs Department.

The gap in services is important because the inquiry is examining whether Desmond and his family had access to adequate mental health services.

On Jan. 3, 2017, Desmond fatally shot his 31-year-old wife, their 10-year-daughter Aaliyah and his 52-year-old mother Brenda before turning the gun on himself in the family’s rural home.