Friends and relatives of Ray Irwin, the Langdale man charged with the first-degree murder of his mother, are questioning the care Irwin received from St. Mary's Hospital in Sechelt before he allegedly committed the crime.
According to Brian Horback, who is a friend of Irwin and his wife Ami, Irwin sought psychiatric care at both the mental health services office and the emergency room of St. Mary's on Feb. 4, the day before the murder.
"It's an outrageous incident," said Horback. "People tried to bring him to the appropriate authorities and were turned away. The next day, what happened? Boom - there's murder. The system failed."
Horback said a woman friend of the Irwin family, who did not wish to publicize her name, was looking after Irwin while Ami was out of the country. The woman said Irwin seemed "half out of his mind" on Feb. 4, according to Horback.
"At one point, he's reading to her kids. The next minute he's babbling about demons or whatever clearly not cognizant of the reality around him," Horback said.
Around 10:40 a.m. Feb. 4, the woman brought Irwin to the mental health services office, located in a separate building on the grounds of St. Mary's. According to Horback, the mental health staff there joked about Irwin's confused state, calling him a "Creeker" to suggest his problem was drug-induced. They then sent Irwin to the emergency room in the main hospital building.
Horback said Irwin was, in fact, a heavy marijuana smoker, and in retrospect, he wonders if Irwin's drug use was an attempt to self-medicate for his mental illness.
At the emergency room, Horback said, staff spent about 10 minutes evaluating Irwin.
"They [emergency room staff] said, he's clearly not in his right mind, but he's not a danger to himself or others, so we can't do anything," said Horback.
Horback said the emergency room physician sent Irwin home in the care of his friend, with no instructions except to feed him and have him get some rest and no referral to any other health care. Irwin and his friend shared a meal at a Chinese restaurant, where Irwin continued his strange behaviour by creating an elaborate arrangement of silverware and paying three times too much for the bill. The woman then brought Irwin home and left him in the care of his mother, Mary Richards, who came from her home in Kelowna to care for her son during this crisis.
What happened next is unclear, but Sunshine Coast RCMP believe Richards was murdered on Feb. 5. The police arrested Irwin Feb. 7 and, after questioning him, recovered Richards' body near the B&K logging road in Roberts Creek.
Irwin is now undergoing a court-ordered, 30-day psychiatric assessment at the Forensic Psychiatric Institute in Port Coquitlam.
Irwin appeared very disturbed when he appeared in Sechelt provincial court Feb. 9, calling himself "King Richard" and rambling about nuclear holocaust, the Book of Revelations and vampirism. Horback, who met Irwin four years ago at an Ultimate Frisbee match, has never seen him in such a condition. He described Irwin as a gifted athlete, an intelligent man who valued privacy and had a deep interest in spirituality. He said Irwin held various jobs, often working in carpentry and construction.
RCMP Sgt. Danny Willis said police are looking into Irwin's care at St. Mary's Hospital as part of the murder investigation."We're investigating him attending at St. Mary's Hospital," said Willis. "A relative is making noise that had he been given treatment, this might have been prevented We are following up on the possibilities."
Dr. James McFarland, chief of staff at St. Mary's, said he could not comment on this specific case, but in general, the emergency room doctor on duty makes the decision whether to admit a patient with symptoms of mental illness, to refer him to the mental health crisis worker or a family doctor or to simply to release him.
"It's very easy, in hindsight, to say something should have been done," said McFarland. "You make the best call you can."
Paul Charron, director of mental health services for the Sunshine Coast, also could not comment on this specific case but described how cases like Irwin's would usually be dealt with. Charron said his office has a mental health crisis worker on duty from 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. When a person comes into the office with a mental health problem, Charron said, typically the crisis worker would see him, assess the case and recommend either admission to the hospital, a follow-up appointment at mental health or referral to a family doctor.
"There is a crisis team available. We do outreach, even go to the person's home," said Charron. "I'm just crossing my fingers what you told me [about Irwin's treatment at mental health] didn't happen."
Ken Cain, president of the Arrowhead Society and a volunteer at mental health services, said the description of Irwin's reception at the mental health office is definitely not what usually happens there.
"I know they're short staffed, but they don't turn people away," said Cain. "They've got an intake worker right there."
