B.C. woman who attempted to abduct child denied release from psych hospital

The Law Courts building, which is home to B.C. Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, is seen in Vancouver, on November 23, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

British Columbia’s highest court has refused a woman’s bid for release from the psychiatric hospital where she has languished for nearly seven years since she was found not criminally responsible for trying to abduct a four-year-old boy.

Gabriel Hunter Gibson, now 43 years old, argued before the B.C. Court of Appeal that her continued detention at the provincial Forensic Psychiatric Hospital is unconstitutional because the length of her detention has already exceeded the maximum prison sentence available for the assault and attempted abduction she was found to have committed.

But Justice W. Paul Riley, writing on behalf of the three-judge Appeal Court panel, ruled that her argument “rests on a failure to appreciate that detention of an individual found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder is not a form of punishment.”

Instead, the judge wrote, Gibson’s continued detention is “a necessary and justifiable form of state intervention that achieves the dual aims of protecting the public and treatment of the individual.”

‘He’s my child’

Gibson appealed to the court earlier this month after the B.C. Review Board declined to release her from the Coquitlam psychiatric hospital where she has been confined since September 2018.

It was Gibson’s fifth appeal since the review board first decided the Okanagan woman “continues to pose a significant threat to the safety of the public,” according to the Appeal Court decision delivered Wednesday.

Gibson was found not criminally responsible on account of a mental disorder after trying to abduct the child, who was riding on a transit bus with his great-grandmother, in Vernon in October 2016.

“Ms. Gibson grabbed the boy’s wrist and told his great‑grandmother, ‘No, you’re not taking him, he’s my child,’” the judge summarized. “Another passenger intervened, pried Ms. Gibson’s hand off the boy’s wrist, and prevented the abduction.”

Gibson has a lengthy history of psychiatric troubles dating back to adolescence, and has been diagnosed with treatment-resistant schizoaffective disorder and substance use disorder, according to the review board.

“Ms. Gibson suffers from severe and persistent psychotic symptoms, including delusions about having her own children and communicating with them telepathically,” the review board wrote in a 2021 assessment cited by the court.

“She believes that children acknowledge her as their mother through looks and glances and convey a desire to be with her,” it said.

Her illness has led her to commit prior offences, including assault, auto theft and other attempts at child abduction, for which she was found not criminally responsible.

‘Likely to act violently’

Gibson told the review board she wants to live in the community and has plans to do so. She admitted, however, that while she no longer “craved” cannabis, she would consider resuming her prior abuse of methamphetamine “because it helps her to think more clearly,” the court summarized.

“Without strict supervision, Ms. Gibson is likely to relapse into substance use, which will further cause a deterioration in her mental state,” psychiatrist Mario Moscovici wrote in a recent patient assessment for the review board.

“Should this occur, Ms. Gibson’s mental state will likely rapidly deteriorate within days to weeks. In this state, Ms. Gibson is irritable, agitated, experiences significant delusional beliefs, and is likely to act impulsively and violently,” he continued.

“The most likely form of violence is a physical assault of any individuals that is in close proximity to her. Given Ms. Gibson’s delusional beliefs, she is also likely to attempt to abduct a child in a similar circumstance as her index offence.”

For those reasons, the Appeal Court upheld the review board’s decision to continue Gibson’s psychiatric detention until her next eligibility for review in 12 months.