Freed from care to attack again

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This article was published 06/03/2009 (6063 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CANADIAN medical officials have little regard for public safety when dealing with people who are found not responsible for violent crimes because of mental illness, according to a former victim.

Paul Serup was lucky to survive after a schizophrenic man shot him in the face with an arrow during a random attack in 2003. Wade Gielzecki was charged with attempted murder but ultimately avoided any legal sanctions after a judge found he couldn’t appreciate the nature of his actions.

But less than two years later, Gielzecki was back on the streets after doctors determined he’d received sufficient treatment while in hospital and no longer posed a risk to society. Last fall, Gielzecki was charged with trying to kill a man by repeatedly stabbing him in the stomach.

"I am quite cynical after my experience, about the (Criminal Code) Review Board and how much they care about public safety," Serup told the Free Press Thursday in a telephone interview from his British Columbia home.

He has been closely monitoring the Vincent Li trial and even placed a call to the victim’s mother, Carol deDelley, earlier this week. Serup warned her about what she is likely to experience now that Li has been found not criminally responsible for murdering Tim McLean on board a Greyhound bus last summer.

"I wanted her to know what had happened in my case," he said.

Does he think Li has a chance to taste freedom again? "It wouldn’t surprise me at all," he said.

Serup’s opinion is based on his own bitter experience, which began with his attack near Chetwynd, B. C. in September 2003. He was working as a first-aid attendant on a construction site when he spotted a car overturned in the ditch along the highway. Serup went to see if anyone was hurt but found the vehicle empty. Gielzecki then emerged from the nearby woods, swearing and clearly upset. Without warning, the disturbed man held up a compound bow and arrow, pulled back and fired a shot straight into Serup’s face. The arrow entered his chin, tore away a portion of his jaw and partially exited through his neck.

Serup said it’s a "miracle" he survived.

Gielzecki went to trial just over a year later but was found not criminally responsible based on a severe mental disorder. Court heard he had battled psychosis for years and spent time in hospital but eventually stopped taking his medication. Gielzecki apparently attacked Serup believing he might by a government spy who’d tampered with his car. He also described hearing noises in his head.

Gielzecki was sent to a mental health facility in B.C. but released back into the community in late 2006, ultimately moving to Ontario.

"I wasn’t expecting him to be out as soon as he was," Serup said Thursday. "I thought the decision of the review board was very flawed. I strenuously protested but to no avail."

Serup didn’t hear about Gielzecki again until he "stumbled" across an Ontario newspaper article last fall which described a violent incident near Peterborough. Gielzecki was back in the news, this time for allegedly stabbing a man in the stomach in what police called a landlord-tenant dispute.

Gielzecki was charged with attempted murder. Serup believes he went off his medication again.

"He should have been monitored for the rest of his life," Serup said. "I’m not saying he needed to be locked up forever, but he should have been watched."

Gielzecki was actually released on bail the day after the incident and is now living in Toronto with a family member who posted a $10,000 surety. The case remains before the courts.

www.mikeoncrime.com