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Eastern Ontario Network Television (EON)
Category: CANADA NEWS
Created: Monday, 18 July 2016 05:00
Written by CBC News
Richard Bain, dressed in a suit and tie, calmly told the jury in his murder trial about his struggles with depression, and how an anti-depressant called Cymbalta changed his life.
Bain is the defence’s first witness. He was sworn in this morning on his own Bible.
He’s accused of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting outside Montreal’s Metropolis concert hall on the night of the 2012 provincial election.
Bain also faces three counts of attempted murder, arson charges and possession of an incendiary device. He has pleaded not guilty.
Bain told the jury that his job as a foreman at a copper refinery in Montreal East used to be his whole life. But he also said he struggled with depression and anxiety, and in 2007 he decided to retire.
“All my life I was working and doing everything for others. I was never number one. It was always other people that I was doing things for,” Bain said.
After taking the medication Cymbalta to treat his depression, Bain said things changed.
He testified that he decided to start putting himself first and, as a result, chose to split with his girlfriend of 20 years.
He said on Cymbalta he “had energy to sell.” He started going to strip clubs almost every night, running up bar tabs that reached as high as $800.
“It gives you the energy to do what you want to do, right or wrong,” Bain testified.
Defence argues not criminally responsible
Defence lawyer Alan Guttman opened his case on Monday with a brief outline of his argument for the jury.
“I’m sure you can all guess that our defence is going to be one of criminally not responsible,” he said before inviting Bain to take the stand.
Guttman is using the not criminally responsible (NCR) defence, also known as Section 16 of the Criminal Code of Canada, which states “no person is criminally responsible for an act committed … while suffering from a mental disorder that rendered the person incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act” or of “knowing that it was wrong.”
Through cross examination of the Crown’s witnesses, the defence presented that Bain was taking anti-depressants.
Philippe Laberge, a close friend of the accused, told the jury that Bain was a “wounded man” who had struggled with depression after he broke up with his longtime girlfriend.
The jury also heard from Laberge that he’d once noticed changes in Bain — who had been acting more anxious and agitated.
He said when he brought it up, Bain explained that his doctor had given him a new prescription, but that he’d decided to keeping taking his old medication.
Not himself, witnesses say
Richard Bain, wearing a blue bathrobe, is led away by police after the fatal shooting outside Montreal’s Metropolis concert hall. (Radio-Canada)
Both Laberge and Bain’s brother, Robert, have suggested that Bain was not himself the night of the alleged murder.
TV footage from the night of the shooting shows Bain wearing a bathrobe, being led away by police as he yells “the English are waking up!”
The defence asked Laberge to watch the footage in court, and pressed him to describe his friend’s behaviour.
“This is not the man I knew,” was his answer.
Robert Bain made a similar statement during a taped police interview, which was shown to the jury.
He told police his brother was never the type of person to be violent.
“‘I’m just surprised at what he did … Everything looked like it was going good,” he said, choking up.
The trial is expected to last until the end of July.