The families of Gregory Despres’ victims say the notorious killer continues to haunt them.
Despres has been granted a hearing next month that will determine whether he can be moved to a facility where security isn’t as tight.
“I’m tired of it being all about Gregory,” says Brenda Case, the niece of victim Fred Fulton. “It’s time it was about us.”
Despres was convicted of the brutal murders of Fred Fulton and Verna Decarie, an elderly couple from Minto, N.B., in 2005.
However, Despres was ruled not criminally 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.
Doctors want him moved to the lesser security Restigouche Hospital in Campbellton but Case says that’s the last thing Despres needs.
“In the eight years he’s been there, or the seven years in this facility, he has not improved at all,” she says. “So what guarantee can they give us that once they move him he’s going to improve? They can’t.”
Decarie’s daughter, Sandra Martin, told CTV News in an email that she believes the doctors treating Despres must feel they have done all they can at this point.
She and Case feel the doctors are now trying to push Despres off to another hospital and other doctors.
“He shows no remorse,” says Case. “He doesn’t admit that he’s done these murders, murdered my uncle and my aunt…I don’t know if it’s something he’s just buried or he doesn’t want to admit.”
The request to move Despres from Dorchester will be heard on Nov. 8 and will be the second such hearing this year.
In May, the New Brunswick Review Board denied a request to move Despres, saying a comprehensive plan had to be in place before it could be considered.
The families of Fulton and Decarie say each hearing is difficult to stomach.
“Just give us a little bit of closure, that we know he is in a cell 23 of 24 hours a day, that he will never do this to another family again,” says Case.
The victims’ families say they can’t let Despres be transferred to a lesser security hospital, fearing that he could escape and threaten them or others.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Andy Campbell
