A Yorkton man who was found not criminally responsible for the 2011 killing of Tammy Kulaway is now being granted unsupervised outings in the community.
Since Madam Justice C.L. Dawson brought down her verdict September 30, 2014, Richard Lesann has been housed at the Saskatchewan Hospital in North Battleford.
At a Saskatchewan Review Board hearing last week, board members heard that Lesann is not taking anti-psychotic drugs and is not showing any signs of mental illness, according to Dean Sinclair Q.C., director of appeals in the Public Prosecutions branch of the Ministry of Justice.
Sinclair explained that patients at the hospital are eligible for temporary leaves and that Lesann’s treatment team believes he doing well enough to be out on his own once or twice a week for short periods.
Lesann stabbed Kulaway to death on March 12, 2011 claiming she was the devil. At his trial, psychiatric experts testified that in the period leading up to and following Kulaway’s death, Lesann was suffering from a severe mental disorder.
Under the law, the Review Board must hold hearings for patients such as Lesann at least once a year. Sinclair said no new hearings have been formally been scheduled, but he expects there will be another one this year, after which the Board could decide on a number of different dispositions up to and including a community discharge.
