A judge has revoked a rare high-risk accused designation for a Winnipeg man who killed his parents and severely injured a hospital nursing supervisor in a three-hour psychotic rampage.
Trevor Farley, 41, has been held at Selkirk Mental Health Centre since October 2023 when King’s Bench Justice Ken Champagne found him not criminally responsible for the Oct. 27, 2021 killings of his parents Stuart Farley and Judy Swain and a near-fatal attack on nursing supervisor Candyce Szkwarek.
Champagne at the time ordered that Farley be designated a high-risk accused — a first in Manitoba since former prime minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative government introduced legislation creating the designation in 2014.
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Trevor Farley’s high-risk accused designation has been revoked.
As someone found not criminally responsible for his actions, Farley’s case falls under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Code Review Board, which would normally be tasked with deciding whether he should remain in a secure psychiatric facility or be subject to a conditional discharge or absolute discharge and release to the community.
As a high-risk accused, it is mandatory that Farley be held in a secure hospital setting. Only a superior court judge can revoke the designation and approve his release from hospital.
On Tuesday, Champagne agreed to Farley’s request that the high-risk accused designation be revoked, a move that puts decision-making responsibility for Farley’s possible eventual release back in the hands of the review board and paves the way for greater liberty in and outside of the hospital.
“Farley is seeking more liberties in the hospital setting, he is not asking to be released with no conditions and he is not asking to be released into the community,” Champagne said near the end of a nearly 90-minute-long decision.
Farley “has demonstrated a strong commitment to understanding his mental illness and a commitment to following the treatment plan,” Champagne said.
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Szkwarek is currently recovering from her 13th surgery since Farley attacked her with a knife inside Seven Oaks General Hospital, said her daughter Jackie Motoch, who attended court with other family members on Szkwarek’s behalf.
“We are not happy with the decision,” she said outside court. “This (high-risk accused designation) was the only thing that was preventing her from living in fear of him coming back to hurt her again.”
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Candyce Szkwarek is currently recovering from her 13th surgery since Farley attacked her with a knife.
Farley is expected to appear before the review board within the next 45 days. No potential decision to release him would be made before his annual review next summer.
“Eventually he can apply for a conditional discharge and sometime after that an absolute discharge, but he has a very long road ahead of him,” Farley’s lawyer Carley Mahoney said outside court. “That is not something that he would apply for immediately. It’s important that the public understand this is not him getting out of Selkirk (hospital).”
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
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