One of New Brunswick’s most notorious killers will stay where he is – at least for now.
Gregory Allan Despres was convicted in the 2005 murders of Fred Fulton and Verna Decarie, an elderly couple from Minto.
However, Despres was ruled criminally not responsible for their deaths due to mental illness
Since 2008, Despres has been held at the Shepody Healing Centre at Dorchester Penitentiary, where workers say he has shown slow progress in his treatment.
Thursday, in a regular appearance before the New Brunswick Review Board, his doctors proposed moving Despres to the lesser security Restigouche Hospital in Campbellton.
The request was denied – a move that was well received by the Fulton and Decaire family members who attended Thursday’s hearing.
"I do not understand the difference between him staying at the Shepody Healing Centre and the treatment he'd receive there, than the treatment he would receive at the Restigouche Hospital,” says Mary Kennedy-Fulton, Fred Fulton’s daughter-in-law.
“But, the risk to our family, to the public, to our mental health, I think is not worth the risk. Mr. Despres does have, they talked about it in the hearing, a security file that talks about him, which means that there is a flight risk for him. In no way do I want my family or anybody else's family to ever have to go through what we've gone through."
The review board hasn’t ruled out moving Despres altogether, saying a comprehensive plan has to be in place before they would even consider it, and that the earliest they would reconsider a transfer would be six months from now.
The families of the victims were not impressed with that. They have been attending the regular hearings on Despres’ status every two years and now may have to make bi-annual appearances.
The family says they will be at any and every hearing to ensure the convicted killer is never released.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Andy Campbell
