Licence of nurse who killed parents suspended

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This article was published 11/12/2024 (269 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Manitoba nurse found not criminally responsible for the 2021 slayings of his parents and an attack on a former supervisor has been barred from practising the profession until he’s considered no longer dangerous to the public.

A College of Registered Nurses of Manitoba panel issued a decision in August to suspend 40-year-old Trevor Farley’s certificate of practice until a committee finds his mental health doesn’t impair his ability to work.

In October 2023, a Court of King’s Bench judge found Farley not criminally responsible due to mental disorder for an Oct. 27, 2021 attempted murder at Seven Oaks General Hospital on Candyce Szkwarek and two separate attacks on his parents, Stuart Farley and Judy Swain, earlier that day.

A 52-page forensic report provided to court stated that in the weeks and days leading up to the 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.”

A psychologist who helped prepare the report said his preferred diagnosis for Farley was a major depressive episode with anxious distress with psychotic features.

After an application by prosecutors, the judge ordered 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.

As someone found not criminally responsible for their crimes, Farley’s case falls under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Code Review Board. The board is usually tasked with deciding whether someone under its purview should remain in a secure psychiatric facility, or be subject to a conditional discharge or absolute discharge and released.

As a designated high-risk accused, Farley is mandatorily held in a secure hospital setting. Only a superior court judge can revoke the designation and approve his release from hospital.

The decision said reinstating Farley’s licence would only be considered if his detention order is at some point removed.

“The process on any future application for discharge of the high-risk accused order by the registrant is sufficiently layered and rigorous that the protection of the public will be considered and protected before a reinstatement application is even considered,” it states.

The college panel held a hearing for a charge of professional misconduct in June. Farley acknowledged the facts of the case were true but did not characterize that acknowledgement as a guilty plea to the professional misconduct charge, citing the NCR finding. He was not ultimately found guilty of professional misconduct, as he was not conducting nursing duties at the time of the attacks.

Farley admitted the attacks demonstrated an incapacity to practise registered nursing, that he was suffering from an ailment that could be a danger to the public if he were to continue nursing and that his ailment impairs his ability to be a nurse.

The college’s complaints investigations committee will oversee any of Farley’s future applications to reinstate his licence. He argued at the hearing that directing the committee to consider the public interest in any decisions, as it had argued for, would infringe on his Charter rights.

The panel said his Charter rights might come up in a future review but the initial decision was not the place to address those concerns.

Farley argued it would be discriminatory and morally inappropriate to prevent him from practising or by imposing conditions on a reinstatement, amounting to punishment for his mental disorder.

He said he was a good nurse before his mental illness “flared up” and that he can be a good nurse once he is treated, arguing it is in the public interest to have a good nurse eventually working during a staff shortage.

The panel decided against ordering Farley to pay to contribute to the proceedings, which he argued would be discriminatory and unjustified, as he did not commit professional misconduct and had tried to get treatment before the bloodshed.

The decision added the panel hopes Farley’s treatment continues positively.

Farley checked himself into the Mental Health Crisis Response Centre at Health Sciences Centre the night before the attacks. He resigned his nursing job the same day.

A psychiatric health team placed Farley under an involuntary hold shortly before the attack — an action reserved for patients believed to pose a threat to themselves or others.

Farley walked out of the unsecured Winnipeg facility and went on the bloody, three-hour rampage.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

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