Testimony in a fatality inquiry into a triple murder-suicide in Guysborough Co. is expected to start Monday.
Lionel Desmond, a 33-year-old war veteran diagnosed with PTSD after two tours of military service in Afghanistan in 2007, killed his wife, daughter, mother and himself in their home in Upper Big Tracadie in Jan. 2017.
The inquiry opened in May; testimony was expected to get underway in September.
Adam Rodgers, legal counsel for members of the Desmond family, tells The Hawk there were some issues that led to the delay.
“We had a lot more disclosure (evidence) come our way than we, I think, originally anticipated, particularly from the federal government, which has been good- it’s been helpful, but it’s taken some time for everybody to get through it,” he says. “Then it’s a matter of scheduling seven or eight lawyers and judges.”
Rodgers say it’s been a long wait, but family members are glad to get to this point.
He says the end goal is to come up with better ways to help veterans and their family members, and get some answers.
“There’s a real human need to understand how something so tragic and so terrible as this could possibly happen,” he says. “We’re going to try to find those answers, too- I know the family is looking for those.”
Rodgers say this phase of testimony, which is scheduled to last three weeks, will include the medical examiner’s conclusions, as well as reports from the homicide investigation and first responders.
He says the inquiry’s findings and recommendations, which may not be available until late 2020, won’t assign any legal responsibility for the deaths.
You can watch the live-stream of the proceedings here.
