GUYSBOROUGH: The lead investigator into the
deaths of Afghanistan war veteran and his family detailed the chain of events,
including the steps the former soldier took and the level of planning that led
to the triple murder-suicide, on Wednesday at...
PORT HAWKESBURY: As retired Cpl. Lionel Desmond struggled to find the necessary help he desperately needed as his mental health deteriorated in late 2016, the Province of Nova Scotia didn’t offer any culturally-specific mental health programs.
PORT HAWKESBURY: The Desmond Inquiry heard from three witnesses last week, one of whom had already testified last year.
According to Nova Scotia's chief firearms officer, a potential federal regulation aimed at reducing intimate...
GUYSBOROUGH: Retired Cpl. Lionel Desmond’s firearms
possession and acquisition licence was first flagged for review by firearms
officials in New Brunswick in 2014 after it was revealed the Afghanistan war veteran
didn’t disclose his complex diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder...
GUYSBOROUGH: The chief firearms officer who approved
Cpl. Lionel Desmond’s firearms possession and acquisition licence renewal
testified on February 20 she would have rejected the soldier’s application if
she had been more aware of his severe mental illness.
PORT HAWKESBURY: Following the triple murder-suicide that claimed the lives of retired Cpl. Lionel Desmond, his wife Shanna, his mother Brenda and his 10-year-old daughter Aaliyah on Jan. 3, 2017, Veterans Affairs conducted their own internal investigation.
PORT HAWKESBURY: The Nova Scotia Judiciary say they expect Judge Warren Zimmer’s final report and recommendations from the Desmond Fatality Inquiry to be filed with the Provincial Court of Nova Scotia “sometime next year.”
GUYSBOROUGH: Shifting the focus of the Desmond Fatality
Inquiry to the access to firearms, from access to health care services, a New
Brunswick RCMP officer who confiscated retired Cpl. Lionel Desmond’s rifle in
2015 testified he did so because he...
PORT HAWKESBURY: The Canadian Armed Forces arranged for retired Cpl. Lionel Desmond’s treatment to continue following his medical discharge in 2015.
However a psychologist says the “lack of structure” outside the military presented additional...
PORT HAWKESBURY: The uncle of retired Cpl. Lionel Desmond says he wasn’t in distress and didn’t see any warning signs from his nephew when he spent the night at his house before carrying out the triple-murder suicide...