Manitoba psychiatric patient granted bail

A psychiatric patient who turned himself in to police last week after a two-week escape has been granted bail, on the condition he be taken back to the mental health centre where he had been staying prior to his escape.

Earl Joey Wiebe, 23, appeared in a Winnipeg court Monday on a charge of escaping lawful custody. In addition to being granted bail, on thecondition he be taken directly back tothe Selkirk Mental Health Centre, the Crown said the escape charge will be stayed, as long as investigations by police show that Wiebe did not commit any other offences while on the loose.

Wiebe turned himself in to police in Victoria on Oct. 11, and was sent back to Manitoba over the weekend.

Wiebe fled from two medical escorts Sept. 27 while on a medical visit to Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre. Police launched a nationwide search and warned that Wiebe was violent, dangerous and at risk of offending again.

He was found not criminally responsible in murdering his stepmother, Candis Moizer, in Niverville, Man., in 2000. He had been a resident of the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, located north of Winnipeg, since then.

The hospital has since changed its policy on potentially dangerous offenders being taken outside the facility, and now has the authority to ask provincial sheriff's officers to take patients in handcuffs to outside appointments if necessary.

Wiebe had not been handcuffed or restrained in any way at the time of his escape.