Chinatown stabbing suspect previously deemed ‘significant threat’ by review board
Posted September 14, 2023 9:57 am.
Last Updated September 14, 2023 11:17 am.
CityNews has obtained new details about the British Columbia Review Board’s decision surrounding the day release of the man charged in Sunday’s random triple stabbing in Vancouver’s Chinatown.
After a hearing on April 13 regarding Blair Evan Donnelly, the board found he was deemed a “significant threat” before being granted day releases.
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The 64-year-old has been charged with three counts of aggravated assault related to Sunday’s incident that injured three people.
The board says he last appeared before the review panel in May 2021, where the panel concluded he had made “good progress, [but] he was not yet ready for a conditional discharge.”
The decision also describes Donnelly’s history of “rapid deteriorations.”
Listen to CityNews1130 LIVE now!The board’s analysis found that Donnelly “continues to meet the threshold of significant threat.”
In 2008, Donnelly was found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder in the 2006 killing of his daughter. He was allowed unsupervised community visits from a Port Coquitlam institution three years later.
“The index offences took the life of the accused’s daughter, and the subsequent offences were also violent with the use of weapons.
“Of significant concern regarding risk assessment, is that all the incidents occurred without warning signs and that the two relapses occurred after lengthy periods of remission without any indicators of decompensation.
“When ill, Mr. Donnelly has no insight into his deterioration. He requires significant supervision to ensure he does not cause further harm to the public,” the review board found.
The board goes on to say that the “only appropriate placement” for Donnelly is at Coquitlam’s Forensic Psychiatric Hospital as he “requires intensive supervision … to ensure he is appropriately monitored before forays into the community.”
The board does note that while handing down an order for Donnelly to stay at FPH, his “progress towards placement in the community … could reasonably occur in an eight-month period.”
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Donnelly is scheduled to appear in the Vancouver Provincial Court on Friday.
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