‘It haunts me’: survivor details aftermath of near-fatal 2021 attack at Seven Oaks Judge rules Winnipeg man who killed parents, stabbed co-worker not criminally responsible By: Dean Pritchard Posted: 6:28 PM CDT Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023

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This article was published 17/10/2023 (737 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two years later, Candyce Szkwarek relives the attack that nearly took her life every single day.

“It is never far from my mind,” the former Seven Oaks General Hospital nursing supervisor told a crowded Winnipeg courtroom in a victim impact statement Tuesday.

“I saw his eyes staring at me, then I saw the long kitchen knife he clutched along his right thigh. I remember thinking: ‘I think I am in trouble.’ Thirteen-plus stab wounds later, I really was.”

Earlier Tuesday, King’s Bench Justice Ken Champagne found Trevor Farley not criminally responsible for a three-hour bloody rampage that claimed the lives of his parents and ended with his attack on Szkwarek in the atrium of Seven Oaks hospital, where he worked as a nurse.

A 52-page forensic report provided to court found in the weeks and days leading up to the Oct. 27, 2021, attacks, Farley was suffering from “religious-based command hallucinations” that made him believe the victims were “contaminated with evil” and the evil needed to be “cut out.”

Farley had already stabbed his mother, Judy Swain, and father, Stuart Farley, to death in separate incidents earlier that day, when he walked through the main entrance at Seven Oaks around 2:30 p.m.

Szkwarek, Farley’s nursing supervisor, was standing at an information desk talking to a co-worker when he walked by. She saw him and said: “Hi, Trevor.”

Farley turned around and stabbed Szkwarek in the back, chest, abdomen and neck before throwing her to the ground. The attack was only halted by the intervention of a staff doctor, who pulled Farley away.

“My life was so very close to being ended that day,” Szkwarek said. “In fact, the physician who had to place his entire fist in my right armpit to stop the bleeding told me that if he had been only a mere minute longer, I would have died.

“Every time I close my eyes, I see that memory of (Farley’s) eyes and the knife,” she said. “It haunts me. I have a constant daily reminder when I look in the mirror and see all my scars from the stab wounds and surgeries. They all take me back to that day.”

Szkwarek spent more than three months in hospital and has not returned to work. She suffered damage to her kidneys and has only limited strength in her right arm and hand.

“Basically, I require assistance with most activities of daily living.”

Szkwarek has worked at the north end hospital since 1983. When she could not return, however, she was replaced.

“Every time I close my eyes, I see that memory of (Farley’s) eyes and the knife… It haunts me. I have a constant daily reminder when I look in the mirror and see all my scars from the stab wounds and surgeries. They all take me back to that day.”–Candyce Szkwarek

“This has been a devastating loss for me,” she said. “I have always planned to return to the workplace, but now the type of work I will do is unknown… My ability to earn an income may have been taken away from me.”

Szkwarek said she no longer feels safe anywhere. “This is debilitating and exhausting.”

Two fellow hospital employees told court they have been forever changed after witnessing the attack and its aftermath and have each been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I have always thought of a hospital as a universal safe zone,” said Heloise Buhler, who was chatting with a colleague in the Seven Oaks atrium when Szkwarek was attacked. “That was shattered the afternoon of Oct. 27.

“When I see somebody in passing… that resembles the accused, I become instantly terrified,” she said. “My deepest desire in life is to feel I am safe as I go about my normal day-to-day life.”

Lori Schellenberg, a psychiatric nurse and longtime friend of Szkwarek, was among the first responders to the stabbing.

“To this day, I struggle with (the PTSD diagnosis) and can’t believe that this is still deeply affecting me,” said Schellenberg, who has been off work since December 2021. “There has not been a day since the incident that I have been able to be anxiety-free… This event has truly been one of the toughest life challenges I have had to deal with.”

Prosecutors and defence lawyers had jointly recommended Champagne find Farley not criminally responsible for the attacks.

With the ruling, Farley’s case now falls under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Code Review Board, which will decide if he should be held in a secure mental hospital, receive a conditional discharge and release from custody or an absolute discharge if he is no longer considered a threat to the community.

In a first for Manitoba, Crown prosecutors and defence lawyers Evan Roitenberg and Laura Robinson are jointly recommending Farley be designated as a high-risk accused. If so designated, Farley would be required to appear before a judge prior to any ruling by the review board granting him release.

Only a handful of such cases have been heard across the country since the federal government introduced legislation approving the designation in 2014, Crown attorney Shannon Benevides told court Tuesday.

A high-risk designation provides an “added level of protection above and beyond what the review board already provides,” Benevides added.

Under the legislation, before an offender can be designated a high-risk accused, a judge must be satisfied they will commit violence if released or the crimes for which they are in custody are “so brutal as to indicate a risk of grave physical or psychological harm.”

“Mr. Farley’s offences are exactly what Parliament was hoping to capture with this legislation,” Benevides said. “Nobody saw this coming and we cannot find ourselves in that situation again… This case, these facts, this accused requires it.

“If not in a case like this, when?”

Champagne will deliver his decision on the designation Wednesday.

At the close of court, Szkwarek approached Farley’s family on the other side of the gallery and embraced two of his brothers.

“I know what they’ve gone through, losing their parents,” she said later, outside court. “I knew that they were feeling awkward — and I just felt the need to go comfort them and tell them I don’t hold anything against them, of course, that they had nothing to do with it.”

Court heard Farley visited hospital several times in the days immediately prior to the attacks, complaining of mental distress. On one visit, he was prescribed an anti-depressant; on another, he was discharged with a recommendation to see a counsellor.

The night before the attacks, Farley visited the Crisis Response Centre, where he was assessed by psychiatrists who decided he should be admitted involuntarily.

Farley left the centre the following morning without anyone trying to stop him and drove to his father’s Toronto Street home and stabbed him to death. From there, Farley drove some 40 kilometres to New Bothwell and fatally stabbed and beat his mother.

Prior to the attack, Farley “seemed fine” at work, Szkwarek said.

“It was quite a shock to see him come that day and a shock to hear everything that transpired in the 24 hours before,” she said. “All the chances he had and they missed. It’s kind of heartbreaking.”

Szkwarek’s daughter said the attack on her mother highlights the poor state of mental health services in Manitoba.

“Our mental health support services in this province are in dire need of an overhaul and there really is not a lot of support for people who are struggling with mental issues,” said Jackie Motoch.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca