Violent mental patient faces removal from Manitoba

A mentally ill man with a history of aggressive behaviour should be transferred to a province that has a maximum-security mental hospital, Manitoba Justice and mental healthofficials say.

Earl Joey Wiebe, 26,appeared Monday before Manitoba's Criminal Code Review Board(CCRB) in Winnipegfor an annualhearing to review his detention at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre (SMHC), where he had been treated sincebeing found not criminally responsible forthe death ofhis stepmother, Candis Moizer, in Niverville.

The woman's throat had beenslit and her bedroom set on fire.

Wiebe is currently being held at the Winnipeg Remand Centre on charges of assault, uttering threats, mischief and possession of aknife for a dangerous purpose after he was caught last month hiding a knife, drugs, alcohol and cash in the ceiling tiles of his private room at SMCH. He was removed from that facility afterhe set his pants on fireon Sept. 19, resulting inhis arrest by Selkirk RCMP. His next court date is Oct. 16.

At the review hearing, Crown attorney Corrine Deegansaid Wiebewill likely remain in remand unless a medical transfer back to a mental health facility is ordered. SMHC, located about 50 kilometres north of Winnipeg,is Manitoba's only long-term secure psychiatric facility.

The head psychiatrist at SMHC, Dr. Steven Kraemer, testifiedMonday Wiebe is manipulative and has circumvented security at the hospital many times. Kraemertold the five-member CCRB panelhe's worried thatif security is increased to deal with Wiebe, they would be turning the hospital into a jail.

Wiebealso had a romanticrelationship with a nursing aide who has since been fired, Kraemer said.

Wiebe previouslyescaped frommedical escortsduring an appointment atWinnipeg's Health Sciences Centre on Sept. 27, 2006. He was arrested in Victoria and returned to Manitoba about two weeks later.

Theboard willissue a decision in Wiebe's case in the next few days.