After being found not criminally responsible for killing his mother, Ray Irwin is now seeking a share of her estate.
Irwin, 36, killed Mary Richards in February 2004 by drowning her in the bathtub of her Langdale home, after beating her for almost an hour. Though Irwin confessed to the killing and led police to his mother's shallow grave in Roberts Creek, he was found by the court to be suffering from acute psychosis at the time of the matricide and was technically acquitted on March 30, 2006. Before the trial and since the verdict, Irwin has resided in Coquitlam's Forensic Psychiatric Hospital (FPH), where his order to remain there was extended for one more year on April 29.
But David Irwin, Ray's older half-brother, said Irwin continues to demand a share of his mother's estate, which consists mainly of a lake-view property in Oyama, near Vernon. The property, which David Irwin now lives in, was assessed at less than $400,000, and Richards left no will behind.
"He said the longer he waits, the more he'll get," David recalled. "All I want is for this to be over."
During his 2007 review, Ray was asked not to call his family with demands for estate money, an order he violated once since then, David said. He also recalls Ray making a demand for money just nine days after the trial ended and a few days after David launched a wrongful death civil suit against his half-brother. But progress in that civil case is moving at a snail's pace, David said.
"[Ray] keeps stalling and changing lawyers," he said. Bernd Walter, chair of the B.C. Review Board (the provincial body charged with reviewing dispositions of those found not criminally responsible for a crime on account of mental disorder), said there's no legal obstacle to Ray Irwin taking his estate claim to court if he chooses.
"A civil case could proceed in any case - it's completely irrelevant to our mandate," Walter said. Irwin's mental stability "waxes and wanes," he said, but added it's ultimately up to the director of FPH as to whether Irwin will be allowed to reintegrate into the community in a "selected, secure facility."
"If he's under our jurisdiction, we would have had to find he's a significant danger to society - he's in the most secure facility we have," Walter added. "A lot of people feel that if someone was found not criminally responsible, they got away with a crime. In fact, evidence suggests mentally disordered accused persons may remain in custody far longer than an accused person going through the justice system."
Family friend David van Duzen, who was raised in part by Richards, believes Ray is taking advantage of a loophole in the not criminally responsible defence.
"This is the first and only case in Canada of matricide leading to an estate claim," van Duzen said. "We're petitioning the attorney-general to see the loophole closed." David said Surrey North MP candidate Nina Rivet is putting the final touches on a letter to be sent to the attorney-general.
"In the last two weeks, we've made more progress than we have in the last four years," he said.
