Original subtitles

[♪]

MAN: He looked like a very passive type person,

like living in his own world.

[♪]

He had long hair. He had a nickname.

People said, they used to call him Jesus Christ.

[♪]

There had to be something wrong with him

but I never thought he would resort

to that kind of violence, this individual.

And then that night to see him do what he did,

it just kind of blew me away.

I just couldn't believe it.

I said I never thought a person like that

could do a thing like this.

[♪]

The police got a call at approximately 7:45 p.m.

indicating that a woman was being stabbed

in front of Wal-Mart at 950 Brookdale Avenue.

[♪]

His victim was a 22-year-old female

who was a resident of the city of Cornwall.

She was a young lady

who was about to get married in the very near future.

MAN: We knew it was a complete random act of violence.

It was just she was not known to him,

he had never seen her before.

The devil told him to stab...

...the prettiest girl that he seen.

[♪]

[sirens]

[♪]

When we walked in she was covered with-

all I remember was she was covered with a white sheet

that was completely soaked

in the reddest, reddest colour of blood that I've ever seen.

WOMAN: We didn't know how many times she had been stabbed. No.

INTERVIEWER: So when you

arrived at the hospital initially

you didn't know if she was going to live or die?

No, no.That's right.

Sean Clifton was someone who was known

to almost all police officers because of his contact

that we've had with him in the community.

And what I mean by that is that often we would find him

acting in a bizarre manner in a public place.

Routinely we'd come across him

and we'd see he was in a distorted state

or a delusional state but not in a violent manner.

But this particular event

was a total surprise.

This is not something I would have predicted from him.

[loud siren]

[♪]

NOELLA BOUVIER: And I had maybe a minute

with my daughter, with Julie.

I took my two hands,

that's about the only place I could touch her.

I put my two hands under Julie's head

and I kissed her.

And, uh...

I went into her ear and I says, "Mom and Dad's here.

You're going in surgery, you're going to be alright."

The strength I felt, it's unbelievable.

And all she did was a little nod saying she understood.

So I think she was conscious, in pain but -

and I pulled my hands, walked out of the room

and I lost it.

[Detective speaking]

DET. WHITE: Within two hours

of the incident occurring at Wal-Mart

I had occasion to interview Sean Clifton

in an attempt to try and understand

how such a horrific event could occur.

NOELLA BOUVIER: When they started the surgery,

the nurses kept -

one nurse kept coming out and telling us,

Okay, so far so good.

And then they come out and a lung had collapsed.

Then they came out and said we had to put a chest tube in.

Like it kept getting worse and worse.

[door opening]

It's, it's devastating.

You feel so helpless, you know.

The--one of the memories that I...

[chuckles] I, I...

I'll be back.

DET. WHITE: When the police arrived on scene,

the perpetrator, Sean Clifton in this case,

was still there, he was still standing there.

He wasn't trying to avoid detection

or flee from the police, he was just standing there.

And what was interesting was the fact

that when the officers approached him

he was like in a trance, he was just staring.

DET. WHITE: The psychiatrist in the case

felt that he did not have

the operating mind in order to form mens rea,

in other words intentional will to commit a crime.

And as a result he was sent

to a forensic psychiatric facility,

the Brockville Mental Health Centre.

[♪]

MAN: This is not like a psychiatric unit

at a general hospital

where you would take your mother.

The Brockville Mental Health Centre

is strictly a forensic psychiatry unit, which means

every client here has some sort of criminal charge.

[indistinct conversation]

[♪]

P.A. VOICE: Please come to the med room for your meds,

meds at the medicine room.

MAN: Look, I have rights, okay?

I haven't seen a lawyer, my lawyer, okay?

I'm beaten the shit out of by the cops

and I don't need my--anything else.

INTERVIEWER: How many of the patients here

are capable of serious violence?

WOMAN: Absolutely all of them.

MAN: Every one.

WOMAN: Every single one, a potential for violence

is what got them here in the first place,

not just because they were schizophrenic,

because they were violent.

[♪]

[sound of running water]

Could transfer this person down.

WOMAN: B3 South?

B3 South.

Now, who is anyone going...

DR. AHMED: Mr. Clifton

is one of the most ill patients

that I have seen in my career.

His case is complex in the sense that

he has a dual diagnosis:

obsessive/compulsive disorder and schizophrenia.

WOMAN: When there is a crime committed that is as heinous,

as violent as the one that Sean committed,

We use initially anti-psychotic medications

to treat the agitation, aggression, the delusions,

the disconnect with reality.

And there is a dramatic change.

[♪]

INTERVIEWER: What was Sean's demeanour like?

WOMAN: Flat.

MAN: Almost robotic.

WOMAN: Yeah, yeah.

Think of yourself as having a mannequin

and there's just this stone...

...response.

There is no affect, there is no raising of the eyebrows,

sparkling of the eye, there's just nothing.

He was very seclusive when he came in,

he didn't interact with anyone

that he didn't absolutely have to.

He would sit in a common area

but not where other people are sitting.

MAN: Sean was so tormented and preoccupied

with what was going on in his mind

that the world outside of his mind didn't exist.

And he didn't care about it because he was so bombarded

with thoughts and impulses and rituals that -

you know, if you spoke to him he'd look right at you

but he's not hearing you because he is inside his mind.

DeCOU: Well of course with the schizophrenia

he was very, very paranoid.

But the most striking thing about him at that time

was his obsessive compulsive disorder.

In my years here

he had the worst case of obsessive compulsive disorder

that I have ever witnessed.

He had several rituals, though the one that sticks most

in my mind would be at meal times.

Sean would have put that tray back,

and then he would have to adjust it

five or ten or fifteen times.

But he would not be able to complete his meal

and leave the dining area

until that ritual had been completed.

VALLENTGOED: If you disturbed him in a conversation,

if you tried to interject your opinion

or get him to elaborate,

he would stop what he was saying

and start from the beginning again.

DeCOU: Yes, at a certain time, yes,

he was one of the illest individuals we've had through.

[♪]

I have six stab wounds so -

some in the hands, some in the back, the leg.

I had two different surgeries.

I have a laparotomy and a thoracotomy.

So a lot of incisions under the left breast

and I had another one in my stomach

to open up to make sure that there was

no serious wounds, puncture wounds.

I remember feeling like I was never going to get better,

you know, so much pain and just, you know,

the pain takes over and you're not sleeping

and you just feel like, you know,

am I ever going to get back to that same person?

You know, I was always a bubbly outgoing person,

I find it kind of brought me down

and I was a little bit more angry.

Just the little things I couldn't do.

NOELLA: Julie, while she was recovering,

her plan, of course, her upcoming marriage,

but her fear was of not being able to have children.

She really wanted children.

Yeah, that really bothered her for awhile.

Yeah, and of course

now she's got three beautiful, beautiful children.

[♪]

I had a lot of help.

My, my family was there for me.

[quietly] Sorry...

I'm lucky that I had them with me,

you know, through everything.

[seagulls crying]

[♪]

WHALEN: For Sean to make any sort of changes

and break out of those rituals and those obsessive thoughts

is that Sean really had to do the work.

There's medication that would help him

for the thoughts to kind of, the intensity to decrease.

But it was still up to Sean

to break those patterns of behaviour.

[indistinct conversations]

[beeping]

Go ahead.Alright.

[door buzzes]

SEAN: I got to the end of my rope and confronted my fears.

I had a lot of irrational fears.

Things I was afraid of happening if I didn't do the rituals.

Like from the start of this thing

I wondered why am I fearing this, you know?

Like why do I have to do this stupid nonsense?

DeCOU: Some fellows have a specific horror

that they're trying to avoid by going through these rituals.

You know, something bad would happen to my sister

or my neighbour or my - you know,

that kind of thing where it would be a specific

"I'm going through this to avoid them coming to harm."

Oh I was afraid of getting illness, me getting sick

or something happening to someone in my family

or something like that.

Some kind of disaster like that.

I felt awful like from the start

of this whole obsessive compulsive disorder thing.

And doing the rituals, you know,

trying to get to the bus stop

and not being able to step off the curb

and just cross the street and everything.

From the start I was like fed up and tired of it.

But eventually, bit by bit,

I started to just be a little bold.

[clock ticking]

SEAN: I had to watch the seconds on the clock

for 10 or 15, 20 minutes

before I could leave the TV room and stuff like that.

[ticking]

I think I just got so frustrated

and so tired and fed up

I just found the strength to just kind of gently,

carefully leave the TV watching room.

[♪]

Almost every day I got a little more frustrated

and fed up and started to just -

I guess I still felt afraid but I went ahead

and stepped on cigarette butts on the sidewalk

and all those things I was afraid to do

for four or five years.

He's worked very hard himself.Yes, yeah.

There has been

an amazing transformation in the gentleman.

All set?

Okay? Have a good day.

You too, Mike.No problem.

INTERVIEWER: Could you see his face?

Yes.

I remember what he looks like.

And I remember after going to the hearing

and I think that was the hearing

to see if he was stable or not,

and I think that was my first time, you know,

seeing him after, and that was my last time

because I found it too hard, too difficult

to especially be in the same room with him.

Because you don't know what they're thinking, you know?

I always have that feeling that, you know,

is he going to attack me, you know?

[sigh]

JULIE: After the court hearing, he was charged

with not criminally responsible.

He ended up going to Brockville,

and I felt

in me like, you know, safe now.

Like he's going to be there, in my mind,

for a very long time.

And he'll be taking his medication.

And I guess I just felt like all,

I never really thought of later,

what's going to happen later.

[♪]

INTERVIEWER: Is it very common for patients like Sean Clifton

who committed murder, or attempted murder,

or very serious violence,

to be released into the community?

That's the mandate.

That's what we're told to do.

That's what our job is.

Regardless of the horrific nature or not,

our job is to rehabilitate them.

Whether it's a shoplifter

or he's charged with two counts of murder.

[♪]

Nobody ever really just goes.

There'll be strings attached.

With Sean, he did earn the right to re-enter the community

by going through many, many, many stages

a little bit at a time.

He would have started out

being confined entirely.

He would not have been allowed off the ward at all.

The next stage would be he would be allowed out

on the grounds for fifteen minutes at a time,

escorted by two staff.

[door buzzes]

And then we progress from there

to he can go out for fifteen minutes

three times a day by himself.

But it's very tightly-controlled

and managed reintegration.

[buzzing]

He had to prove to the entire team

that his risk to the community

was basically no more than anyone else's risk.

With Sean that took eight years.

[♪]

INTERVIEWER: Do you remember when you first heard

that he might be coming out?

That they were allowing him some freedom

to go into the community?

Were you upset?Yes, I was upset.

I guess all the fear comes back, you know.

Who's going to ensure that he's taking his medication?

Who's going to make sure

that he doesn't come back to Cornwall?

Because that would devastate me

if I happened to be walking by and saw him, you know?

INTERVIEWER: You come out and you're rooming

with another forensic patient.

Is it in your mind that, you know, gee,

what happens if he reoffends or if he stops taking his meds?

Is this something that you gave some thought to?

Yeah.

Yeah, it's a bit of a fear but I'm constantly trying

to remain friends with Sean

so that that doesn't happen, it doesn't....

Try to solve the problem before it becomes a problem.

We met in the hospital.

Took us through a list of stuff that,

like rules for the apartment.

So that we knew what was going on.

INTERVIEWER: What kind of rules?

WILL: I think it was no violence towards each other.

That was my, my main one anyways.

We try to stay friends a lot and work together.

We watch TV and stuff like that together

and we try to stay friends.

When are the folks coming to town again?

Probably on the weekend.

Oh yeah.

They going to bring us something to eat?

Uh-huh.

They brought us ham this time, there's ham in the fridge.

Yeah, I saw that.

There's a bottle of gravy in there, isn't there?

Oh, that's baked beans.

My mother made some baked beans. Yeah.

From scratch?Yeah.

I don't know how she makes them.

[chatter from television]

WILL: Like I said, we just try to keep it friends.

I try not to piss him off so that, you know,

we're not really endangering each other

of any of the violent offences that we were both there for.

People think I'm a good fighter, I think, so that's good.

I'm a martial artist, I've been in close to a hundred fights.

I was kind of a smaller guy in school

so I had a few guys picking on me.

So I started studying kind of beating up tougher guys,

you know, guys that would think that they could

be aggressive with me.

I did strike a few of the cops

and that got me into some hot water as well.

INTERVIEWER: Did you use

any of those techniques that we just saw? Yes.Ouch.

Yeah.

I got a reputation, nobody wanted to mess with me.

Yeah.

Did you have to beat up a few people first

to get the message out there?

Uh, yeah, I did, I did.

WOMAN: Will has no insight,

if I can say that, into his mental disorder.

He believes totally and completely

that he does not have a mental illness.

I'm one of the forensic outreach nurses

here at the Brockville Mental Health Centre.

When an individual goes out into the community,

we want to keep everybody safe when they're out there,

so that basically is our responsibility,

to maintain the safety of the community.

We have to be in a situation

where it's a bit of a policing role.

They can be very paranoid when we go to see them

because they feel that perhaps

we might be taking them back to the hospital.[doorbell]

Hi, Will, how are you doing?Hello, Janet.

His delusions and the involvement

that he had with the police,

he truly does believe

that the police were out to get him

and you would not be able to convince him otherwise.

Was there concerns about the police in Gananoque?

What were they-

Uh, yeah, I feel like they had a vendetta against me.

Right, mmhm.

Because I spoke out against them in previous years.

And so there was a bit of a vendetta there.

So they picked me up on assault charges

but I was hitting, I hit the man in self-defence.

Okay.

JANET: Will has a delusional disorder as opposed to schizophrenia.

He has the paranoid beliefs,

but as far as his personality goes, it remains the same.

So are you gonna be able to do that?

Intellectually he's quite a bright individual

and with medications and that sort of thing

his delusions can be controlled.

I found myself harassed by the police.

They were giving me seatbelt fines and stuff like that.

Oh were they?Yeah.

Okay, so do you, do you think every time you went out

into the community they were,

like they knew where you were and they were following you?

At times, yes.At times, okay.

I had to watch what I was driving and where I was going.

I wonder why that was, do you know?

Um, it's kind of complicated.

Okay.

Hi, is it Dixon?

It is.Dixon, I'm Sean.

Hi, Sean, nice to meet you.Pleased to meet you.

I'm the meeter/greeter for the car wash these days.

Okay.

Uh, you can take a seat in the house, if you want.

We haven't got any reading material right now

like they were planning on,

but I can make you a pot of coffee if you want, or-

I'm actually being picked up but thanks for that.

Great, thanks.Alright.

SEAN: I offered to make coffee

for the guys working in the car wash.

Jim?Yeah?

You want a coffee?No thanks.

Alright.

INTERVIEWER: So you don't get involved

in actually washing of the cars?

No, I specifically requested

to stay away from that kind of thing.

How come?

Ah, it's just I get tired.

And, uh...

Too much bending, it just tires me right out.

I wouldn't be able to do it two days in a row.

My back'd hurt and things like that.

I need a desk job.

I might as well get comfortable.

DR. AHMED: And generally since the last time we met

how's your mood been?

Um, good. It's better.

I kind of like my job at the car wash.

Okay.

Um, gives me a reason to get up in the morning

and get out of bed.Yeah, yeah?

[clock ticking]

[loud thumping]

[loud thumping]

JANET: I was there at a home visit

and he decided that he would practice

some of his martial arts skills on a punching bag.

As he got into that exhibit more and more,

it became quite evident

that there was a lot of anger in Will.

He's a very strong individual, and I actually was terrified.

[thumping]

Jab.

The police have always been something

that Will has been quite paranoid about.

Now the problem with the police is

is that they keep calling this assault.

But they're not investigating what happened before that

to anger me to take those actions.

INTERVIEWER: You feel it was self-defence?

Yeah, I feel it was self def--self-defence.

JANET: I was actually quite terrified for him.

Will's offences were relatively minor assaults.

So he's far more a danger to himself than he is to others.

If he felt he had to defend himself with the police,

if he went to assault them or threaten them at all,

he would be in danger because

the police carry weapons.

And there may be some dire consequences

come out of that kind of activity with Will.

[♪]

SEAN: This is my anti- psychotic medication.

It's called Olanzepine.

And it's the only thing

standing between my sanity and complete madness.

INTERVIEWER: If he stopped taking his medication,

how long might it take

for him to relapse into a psychotic state?

JANET: Being generous I'd say about two weeks.

And that's being generous.

It probably would be shorter than that,

but in two weeks' time I believe that he probably

could become quite psychotic.

INTERVIEWER: And potentially dangerous.

JANET: Potentially dangerous.

INTERVIEWER: What would you like to see happen

to Sean Clifton?

That there's a law passed that if ever he is free,

that he has to be subject to take medication regularly.

Regular blood tests to ensure that he is,

because who says he won't do it again?

Just knowing that he's kind of free.

He's still monitored

but not as much as being in the hospital.

So it's scary to think that, you know, he's out and about.

I was afraid, I was afraid for myself

and I always think that everybody says,

"Oh, it was just a random, you know,

you were just there at the wrong place, at the wrong time."

But I guess I just don't understand what they're thinking

and could he come back, could he be angry at me?

Doesn't have to be for a logical reason,

just maybe being that he was, you know, sent there,

maybe he holds grudges, I don't...

[indistinct chatter]

There are so many people with schizophrenia,

bipolar disorder, who carry on their day-to-day life

without necessarily committing violence.

Mental illness is just one of the factors

that we can manage successfully.

In two weeks I have a hearing with the Ontario Review Board.

Um...

It's kind of like a parole hearing for a mental patient.

This year I'm sort of hoping for a step forward

and receive a conditional discharge.

That means there's less control over my personal life.

DR. AHMED: Essentially, you know

that one of the concerns the review board has

and that we all have, and of course you do have that,

is that we want you to be stable.

We don't want what happened to repeat itself.

Right.

Any unusual experiences at all?

Um, none.

Voices?No.

Or this concern that you may be followed by people?

No, nothing like that, no.Okay.

Tell me, have you been taking your medication regularly?

Oh yeah.

There is no cure for paranoid schizophrenia.

This is a lifelong process

that Sean has to go through

to maintain his stability and his daily functioning.

It's not nice to have to take pills.

I'm hoping there'll be a day in the future

when I won't need it but the doctor I think

[clears throat] would tell me

that I'll need it for the rest of my life.

INTERVIEWER: How do you feel about that?

Well...

I guess I'll have to cooperate.

They'll, they'll haul me into the hospital

if they suspect I'm not taking my medication.

Um...

INTERVIEWER: What about if you obtained

an absolute discharge

with no requirements to take -

Oh, I'll take the pills.

Any other concern, any other anxiety

with regards to the Review Board hearing?

Oh just the usual case of nerves.

Yeah.Yeah.

Alright, then.

Keep up the good job.

No drug use, no alcohol,

continue with your medication,

and I wish you well for tomorrow then at the board.

Okay, Dr. Ahmed.

Okay, thanks a lot.Thank you.

Alright.

[♪]

I'm the father of the victim in this case

and I attend the Ontario Review Board hearings annually.

And I was told very early on that it was important for me

to stay involved in this process

and I'm very glad I did.

We all know that if patients like Sean

do not take their meds,

some of them decompensate rather quickly.

Could be a week, it could be a month,

it could be two months.

If he's got a complete discharge and he's in society

and he decides that he doesn't need his medication,

the same thing that happened to Julie

could happen to anybody.

And this is my plight.

I don't want this to happen to anybody else.

NOELLA: I never went to the hearings.

I had worries,

I feared Sean.

I couldn't bring myself to face Sean Clifton.

ANDY: Sean is not able to this day

to come within 250 kilometres of Cornwall.

What if he comes back here

and comes after her, you know?

Alright, okay.

So I don't know what is taking that, the previous hearing...

SEAN: Well the father of the victim was there every year

except last year and I think the year before.

He only missed twice.

But this was the first time I've seen the mother there.

I guess it doesn't help my arguments

for getting back to being a free man when they're there.

[♪]

SEAN: Well after the board they don't just come out

and give you a decision right there on the spot.

It usually takes a couple of months.

ANDY: I asked the board

if I could off the record have a chat with him.

And I explained to them

that as a Christian they -

I wouldn't feel right in my skin

if I didn't do everything possible to make sure

that they don't go out and attack your daughter,

your daughter, your daughter.

SEAN: Well, my review board

didn't go very well.

Um...

They brought up things from the long dead past.

Read police reports that were full of untruths.

Overall they made me sound like a bloody, a serial killer,

like this is--like I don't understand anything or, ah...

Like I just don't know how to act, like I'm not, you know,

like I don't know how to act in society or something like that.

I wasn't half the madman they suggested I was.

When the Crown made his closing arguments,

he portrayed me like twice the madman I really am.

I'd like to know where those,

who made those reports to the police.

Because there were so many inaccuracies.

I never said the only good woman is a dead woman,

it's ridiculous, it was utterly ridiculous,

the kind of things they said I said.

INTERVIEWER: And you're not denying

the fact that the index offence

was an attempted murder?

Uh, I don't know if I really had intent to kill.

It's like I was just driven insane from an impulse.

Um...

I don't really know if I intended to murder anybody.

How would you describe your mental state?

Uh, I was a mess.

Uh, the day of the index offence

it had been years and years of the rituals and, um,

I'd finally made it downtown and I was very fed up

and frustrated and not in my right mind.

You're saying you were not sane.

Yeah, I would say that.

I was not, not playing with a full deck

at that point. [chuckles]

INTERVIEWER: If Sean Clifton

were to obtain an absolute discharge,

it means that he would be released

from the hospital with no controls?

He would be released with no controls, yes.

He would not be required to report to anyone?

He would not be required to report to anyone, yes.

He would not be required to take his meds?

He would not be forced, if required means being forced

to take his meds, he would not be required to do so.

He could get on a bus and just disappear somewhere?

He could get on the bus and go anywhere.

Do you think it's likely that Sean

will eventually obtain an absolute discharge?

Yes, it's very possible that some day

Sean will be discharged absolutely.

I don't have that much to say.

Not to me you don't.

But you still blame me for everything that was said.

I blame you, I blame Mother and I blame April.

April called me a criminal and she called me a bum.

So after I had read what April had did to me,

I hit April and then that's when you jumped in the way

trying to defend April and I hit you in self-defence.

You attacked me as if I was going to attack you.

I wasn't, I was going to stop a fight.

You were going to throw me physically out the door.

That's not, that's not going to hit you or anything else.

Well you've got no right to lay your hands on me.

I do in my house,

I have the right to throw anybody out that door.

Well you didn't that day.

In my own home I don't have the right to-

You got no right to lay your hands on me.

That's called self-defence.

If you lay your hands on me

and I hit you, it's self-defence.

Not when you're told to leave.

Well, whatever.MOTHER: But wait a minute.

Now you did bring up, was it rifles or guns?

It was some sort of...

WILL: I told someone that it was okay for them

to store a bag in my closet.

And you wouldn't look in the bag?

I didn't look in the bag.

I was framed.

WILF: My understanding with those guns, they were sawed off,

they were going to be used in an armed robbery-

Did I saw them off?I have no idea, I wasn't there.

No I didn't.

When I'm 15 years old, yes,

I let someone throw a bag in my closet

and suddenly I'm a gun-toting maniac.

But that's the way the law saw it.

That's the way the law saw it but they were wrong.

Okay.

[♪]

SEAN: There were a few things I wanted to do

but I had some plans before I went insane.

And I'd like to get back on track.

I had a dictionary, a pocket Oxford dictionary

that was always by my side back in Cornwall.

This was before my index offence and everything.

And used to watch TV with the dictionary at my side,

used to sleep at night with it on my nightstand.

And words would just come to me.

If I didn't know the exact meaning of a word

I had to look it up.

It was fun, it was a real love. [chuckles]

When I started to get mentally ill in about 1993 or so

I gave up on it, didn't look up anything.

I couldn't care anymore.

Feels like my interests are coming back a little bit.

Haven't got much proof of being a real intellectual

but I did have a desire to be one.

It just popped into my head, I had to buy a dictionary.

So...

INTERVIEWER: And have you looked up any words yet?

SEAN: Oh many,

every day so far.

Every day at least one or two.

[phone rings]

WILL: There's a business office

halfway through the apartment here

and it's a little space, there's a desk

because I'm an entrepreneur.

INTERVIEWER: What kind of an entrepreneur are you?

Well lately I have to admit

that I've been more on the relaxed side.

Uh, I've kind of been tied up

with women for the past few months

and haven't been able to really decide

on which business I want to undertake

so I'm still deciding.

You know, like last year I was thinking

of electric car for a poor man.

Yeah, there's a need for electric car

for a poor man, yeah.

SEAN: Back in about 1990 when I was half sane

I took a course in the local community college

and within the program

there was an introductory to computers course.

And it was very basic, they started explaining things

right from the start about, you know,

this is the monitor, this is the keyboard,

inside the computer there's a hard drive

and what happens when you put a floppy disc

into the disc drive.

And then I got sick and had to forget about school

and computers as well.

After awhile my curiosity came back.

WHALEN: It took us several months

to get him to the point where he'd send an email.

SEAN: I opened an email account this afternoon...

There it is.

Not one to really go along with every fad that comes along,

but it's sort of going to be challenging and, uh,

I'm kind of looking forward to the challenge

of becoming computer literate.

It took him several weeks of thinking about it,

what he was going to write, exactly how he would write it.

And I realized I had to type in 1968 instead of just '68.

So I got that, I overcame that.

And then finally it told me that opened,

I'd opened an email account for myself.

And then I came into work a few weeks ago

and there's an email, Sean Clifton sent me an email.

[♪]

So this is one song that I wrote.

[♪]

♪ It really bugs me when I see other guys, ♪

♪ don't treat you like a piece of meat. ♪

♪ I feel jealous when guys hit on you. ♪

♪ Can't fight every guy that you meet. ♪

What if Will snaps and does something at random?

That has occurred to me. Uh...

I guess I'll have to deal with that

when it happens, if it happens.

He could reoffend and I could reoffend as well.

Yeah.

I do martial arts and I, you know,

I've been known to defend myself, so...

I won't say I keep an eye on Will

because I'm not his mother or anything like that, but...

I'm just aware, keep an eye on Will

the same way I would any other forensic patient.

After all, that's why we're ceram-uh, forensic patients.

If I was sleeping and he's in there for an offence

where he stabbed somebody,

he could stab me in my sleep.

But I don't think Sean would.

I don't think Sean's that kind of character.

♪ [singing Do do-do]

SEAN: I like the quiet. I like it nice and quiet.

I want my own place.

Will and I are going to go our separate ways and...

I'll probably run into him as he gets off the bus

at the hospital and I'm getting on the bus

after a morning of work or whatever.

INTERVIEWER: Was it done in acrimony?

No. No.

Umm...

Now that's a word I'm going to have to look up.

I think I know what it means. [laughs]

Acrimony, like as bad blood and, yeah.

SEAN: Acrimony.

Harsh or biting sharpness,

especially of words, manner or disposition.

Hm. I was close enough.

[exhales sharply]

JANET: There was a question as to whether or not

Will was taking his medications.

When I checked his dosette,

there were approximately six doses out of the seven

that weren't taken.

So that's a pretty good indicator

that he's not taking his medications.

JANET: Well, I'm on my way to see Mr. Bilow

and he's going to have his injection this morning.

The reason he's getting an injectable medication

is Mr. Bilow has very little insight into his illness

and he believes that he doesn't have a mental illness,

so it's important that he have that injection.

If he decides that he doesn't want to,

Mr. Bilow would have to come back to the hospital.

Do you know why you're on your injection?

I don't know.You have no idea what that's for?

I just figure the doctor is mean.

Okay, you figure the doctor's mean and he wants me

to come in here and give you an injection every month?

Yeah.Okay.

Any concerns?

It's a violation of my rights that I get injections.

Like if I'm injected with needles

or if I'm forced to take oral medication.

Okay.

They're putting drugs in my body and I don't-

my opinion, I don't think that they have the right to do that.

Okay.

The doctor phoned me and he said,

"Your son's not responding to the medication we've got him on.

"Do I have your permission to change him over

to an injection?"

And I said yes.

Okay?Yeah.

Just hold that for a minute.

DR. AHMED: He was obviously very disappointed

at the outcome

of the last hearing because he had requested

to have a conditional discharge.

As to risk, I do not believe there's any change in his risk.

His risk is manageable under current conditions.

He's taking his medication.

Psychosis well controlled.

He's insightful.

So overall I'm quite pleased.

JANET: He's very honest.

Talking to Sean about the events of the day,

there is that remorse there,

and he is worried that this is going to happen again.

He's expressing his anxiety to us

so that we're going to be able to help him

so that he doesn't go and reoffend

or go out there and hurt somebody else

because it really isn't something that he wants to do.

INTERVIEWER: Are you ever afraid

that you could commit a violent act again?

I never feel like it.

I never feel like committing a violent act.

But stranger things have happened.

I don't think I will.

I really don't think I will

but I didn't think I'd ever really do

what I did that day at the shopping mall.

How long has it been since you committed-

Twelve years.

And in twelve years no further violence?

No, none.

I sort of had something I've been thinking about.

Uh...

I've been thinking about a letter of apology

to the victims of my index offence.

Oh, okay.

I don't have a clue where to start.

Okay.

I'm not sure how to word it and things, to actually do it,

I'm not sure how to actually do it,

I'm not sure how to word it.

I think it's going to be stressful to write this thing.

Absolutely.

Even with the help and everything

it's going to be stressful.

But I think it's something that, well, its time has come

and I don't, I don't think I want to put it off any longer.

Okay.

Right now if you could think of one thing

you would like to say to the victim

as a result of your actions, what would it be?

Okay, the thing, the thing,

the first thing that comes to my mind is that

she's afraid to go out in public anymore,

this victim is afraid to go out in public.

I'd just like to tell her it was, she wasn't singled out,

it was just a random, uh, thing, a random act.

Before that day I didn't really feel anger towards anybody.

But I did feel, uh...carried around a lot of pain.

Uh, but I didn't feel like hurting anybody.

It was a kind of a spontaneous act.

Uh...

Even that day I just, I kind of lost my mind

and I just, it was just, I...

I, I just had to do it and...

I just kind of had to do it, I guess.

I was pretty sick.

[♪]

This drug is called respiradol and it's an anti-psychotic.

And I take, by injections I take palo-peridone

which is the same as respiradol when it gets into the body.

I wasn't taking my pills,

I was hiding them under my tongue before.

INTERVIEWER: And why was that?

Because I didn't agree with them forcing me to take drugs.

JANET: Since there's been a change in Will's medications

six months to a year ago,

there's been a significant change in Will

and how he's managing.

He does have a long way to go

but he's progressing and I think he's doing okay.

Well, [exhales deeply]

I sat down with my outreach nurse

from the Brockville psych

and she and I composed a little,

uh, a little letter of apology.

It's kind of short and to the point.

But what I would really prefer would be

to make the apology in person

and give them a chance to respond and everything and...

If they're not completely averse to the idea,

if they're not completely offended

by my presence and things like that.

I've got it in writing but I think if I could I would,

I'd do it face to face.

If they don't find it completely offensive.

As much as I know that it's just

me at the wrong place at the wrong time,

why is there, you know, why me, I guess,

if that makes any sense.

I guess there's a lot of different questions, you know.

What is it that made him lash out, you know?

You know.

But like again, I don't understand his sickness

so I don't know everything about his situation or why.

So it's all little questions I guess I would have.

It was pretty clear that, what he had done.

There were several witnesses to the event.

So that wasn't the matter,

but the question is why did this happen?

For many years he lived in the community

and he never engaged in such activity.

So why on this particular night did this occur?

[♪]

I don't do these kind of things on a regular basis, John.

Things were terribly wrong that day in a number of areas.

I was just a weak little kid, kind of sickly

and really hurting somebody -

I was more picked on, picked on and put upon

than I was an aggressor, for sure.

I was not aggressive.

That was not part of my make-up or anything.

I was born in Cornwall, Ontario.

It's right across the St. Lawrence River

from New York State.

Well, I'd sort of considered suicide at a young age.

On occasion my mother could do some very disturbing things.

My mom used to play dead with my brothers

when they were just little boys.

Frightened the hell out of them.

My mother would on occasion threaten to commit suicide

by jumping off the Seaway International Bridge.

She used to just say that she would take the bridge

if she didn't get her way about something.

Trips downtown could be difficult and painful.

I was sort of used to being laughed at

by kids younger than me.

In grammar school

I was the slowest runner in baseball, you know.

Playing a game of softball I couldn't hit,

I couldn't run and I couldn't field.

I was just hopeless.

Couldn't climb to the highest rung on the monkey bars.

Couldn't get right up there on the highest rung,

couldn't do that.

The other kids'd get up there

and look down and laugh at me and stuff.

I couldn't climb up.

I was singled out for being picked on.

Bullied and insulted

and chased home after school or...

prevented from getting home and things like that.

And I was just the strangest kid anybody had ever seen, I guess.

WILL: I thought I was under surveillance

by the police department.

I figured the police were going to come and arrest me.

I feel like they had a vendetta against me.

INTERVIEWER: And so you fled

and you lived in the woods for awhile?

Yes.

INTERVIEWER: How long were you out in the woods?

Uh, I'd say three years.

That long?Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: And you were 100% convinced

that there was no element of mental illness in any of this?

Uh, I wouldn't say 100%.

You have some doubts?

Uh, I'm not sure about some of it, yeah.

LORNA: He's come such a long way.

The hospital basically saved his life

because somebody might have stabbed him

or, you never know,

or he might have stabbed somebody else, you know,

and there would have been even more trouble.

And he certainly acts so much diff...

Well, he acts more now like a man.

WILF: Two years ago

this conversation could never have happened.

Couldn't have happened.

INTERVIEWER: Really?

Would have been impossible.

Those two would have been screaming at one another,

one would jump up off the chair.

I'd just be fearing for my life.[chuckles]

It would have been awful.

You could not sit like this and discuss, you know...

I'm right, aren't I?

Yeah.

SEAN: Been chasing women since I was about four years old.

Haven't had a lot of success.

I had one girlfriend

and when things kind of went sour between us...

I couldn't meet another girl no matter what I tried.

I've been to all the pick-up joints in Cornwall.

Struck out every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.

Never had much luck in that scene at all, really.

And I didn't meet another girl again.

Never had another girlfriend,

just had one in five years of highschool.

INTERVIEWER: Since that highschool relationship,

how has it been for you with girls?

Oh, there's just been no relationship.

[chuckles]

DET. WHITE: He had a concern with women

and the fact that he'd never been able

to maintain or establish a relationship with a female.

And as a result he harboured a tremendous amount

of anxiety towards women because of that.

SEAN: They hurt more.

Being disliked by the girls

hurt more than being disliked by the guys.

Somebody once made a joke with me

about being walked all over with high heels.

That piece of information we thought

might have played in

as to why he selected a random female

in an attempt to kill her

and we felt that it was because of this belief

that he had that women had shunned him

and that he was unable to have a relationship with them.

Have you ever been told everybody hates you?

Have you been told that, John? I've gotten that shit.

And I think maybe, I'd have to think back,

and I'd really have to wonder,

did it happen more than once that someone said,

"Everybody hates you," you know? [chuckles]

[♪]

DR. AHMED: On the day of the index offence,

or even weeks before then,

Sean had had all this delusional belief about females.

He had expressed it on several occasions.

They were persecuting him, they had special hatred for him.

I just couldn't seem to get that wishful thinking

about girls off my back, you know?

I couldn't get it off my back, John.

I just, they had tremendous importance in my mind,

the girls.

They had the tremendous importance in my mind

and I couldn't get it off my back.

And I had to kind of like balance it, you know,

like Sean, you know, you're going to get in trouble

if you go down that road, you know?

I kind of had to handle these things.

And then when someone finally came along and said,

like Sean, to hell with you...

I may have snapped like a dry twig.

[♪]

DR. AHMED: Unfortunately the victim was identified

as a representative of the people that hated him.

And he was full of anger

and the anger was psychotically motivated as well.

This person is a representative of the gender

that didn't like me and I was going to take the person out.

He was motivated by a disorder, a disease of his mind.

I felt so upset, I could see myself losing control

if I didn't talk to somebody.

DET. WHITE: The investigation showed

that Sean Clifton had gone to the hospital

and he was looking to see someone.

The information was that

he had told either one of the workers

or one of the residents at the group home he lived at

that he was hearing voices again.

And that he seemed to be,

that he thought that he was delusional again.

I went up to the psychiatric ward and,

well, they said they were too busy to talk to me.

Uh...

I don't think they realized

I'd about reached my breaking point.

INTERVIEWER: And then what happened?

Well...

then... I guess, uh...

I kind of snapped, and, uh...

I think I lost self-control.

The brakes were off.

So consider it like a car

that doesn't have a brake on a snowy day.

No snow tires, no brake.

SEAN: But I couldn't stop it,

I just couldn't get a grip on myself

once things started to roll.

Things were terribly wrong that day in a number of areas.

A number of things went wrong.

I mean, the impairment of the OCD

and the slipping away of my self-control, like I didn't,

I didn't care if they put me in jail forever, you know.

I felt that this little feud that was going on

between me and...

some people in my home town

had reached a new level,

had reached a new low

and it was now like a war without rules.

[♪]

It was just a regular night.

We were, we had decided to go for a coffee

but Lynn had just had a baby

and wanted to get formula and diapers

so I said, "Oh, let's take a ride down to Wal-Mart

before heading out for a coffee,"

and just, you know,

you think that it's just an ordinary night walking in.

I sat down at Wal-Mart on a bench in the doorway

and I just, I couldn't seem to bring myself

down to earth again once I got that upset.

And I think that's when I decided I had to do it.

You know, he stood out to me, he stood out

so I could see, you know, the long hair, the--you know,

sometimes you just can sense it, you know?

You can just see it in their eyes.

After I sat there a little while I shoplifted a knife

and...

I could hear some yelling and I was walking towards the door

and he started running towards.

But I thought, I kind of looked back

because I thought he was yelling and upset at somebody.

I waited for a member of the opposite sex to come by

and I stabbed one of them.

And I felt like he had punched me.

So, you know, I just - you know,

at that time everything's going through your head,

like what did I do, you know?

Why are you running towards me?

And I happened to look down

and that's when I noticed the blood.

So at that point I knew that I had been stabbed.

After that I don't remember too much.

I remember falling to the ground and thinking to myself,

if I fall, maybe he'll stop, thinking that, you know...

I didn't move, I just wanted to kind of play dead

so I knew that, you know, he wouldn't hurt me anymore.

DET. WHITE: Mr. Clifton continued his attack

as she went to the ground

and again lunging with a knife trying to strike her with it.

There were several bystanders at the scene

at the particular time

and some of them approached Clifton.

So that's when I stood in front of him and I looked at him,

and I said to the person, I said,

"What did you go and do here?"

And he wouldn't answer me, he just, he backed away.

I could hear yelling, you know, he was cursing,

"Die," you know, "you bitch" and all that.

You know, just...

And at that point, you know,

you're still thinking in your head like is this it, you know?

That's what I kind of felt, you know, is like,

am I going to see the white light now, you know?

Is this my time?

[inhales sharply]

LATOUR: I got back down on one knee.

I said, "What's your name?" And she said, "Julie."

I said, "Julie, my name is Deric."

And she looked up at me and she says to me,

"Are you my angel?"

And I said, "No, Julie," I said, "I'm not your angel,

I'm just a regular person here to help you."

I says, "And you don't have to worry about the guy

that hurt you, he's away,"

I said, "and help is on its way."

[loud siren]

I think after the shock kind of, the initial shock,

you kind of start to feel,

I remember feeling the sting and the, the...

I can only describe it more or less like wet, you know?

Like that feeling of sting and the wet and just laying there

and I don't think it took long for the ambulance

to get there but to me it felt like an eternity

because it was hurting at that point,

the pain was, was unbearable.

And then he started ranting and raving a little bit,

like he was just,

like he couldn't believe what he was doing.

He was getting a little worked up.

He goes, "You fuckin' bitch," he said,

"you're nothing but a fuckin' bitch."

And he's still ranting around, eh?

And he's doing like pirouettes, he's,

as if he can't believe what he did.

And then finally there was a calm,

it was just like a calm as if nothing happened.

He walks right up to me.

You know, and I'm standing right there.

Like I could put my hand right on his shoulder.

And he says in a very calm voice, he says,

"Do you think the police are going to come?"

And it sort of stunned me.

I just went, like, "What? What do I say now?"

Then all of a sudden I was shocked to see that,

all of a sudden you could see the anger

come right back in his face,

like the other, I don't know how you say,

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type thing.

It was like Mr. Hyde was coming out of him

and he just got angry and he just looked at me

and he says, "I hope you fuckin' die,

you cunt and go to hell."

And that's when I said, "Okay,"

I started approaching, I said,

"That's enough of that," I said.

"You did your damage, it's done, drop the knife.

You're not going to hurt her any more."

I know I didn't try and get away but don't,

I don't recall considering trying to get away.

INTERVIEWER: But you remember sort of

lingering at the scene after?

Yeah.

Do you remember much of the events of that night?

I remember a few things about it.

And even though you were fairly aware,

you couldn't stop yourself?No.

INTERVIEWER: How is it that he can remember

so much of what happened that day, was that aware,

but still was unable to stop himself?

The disorder we're dealing with here

is not a disorder of memory.

The individual does not have, as it were,

a memory problem.

So an individual who suffers from paranoiac psychosis

will be able to tell you what happened.

In fact, they may even plan what happened.

Let's come back to Sean.

With that psychotically motivated anger,

he went into the shop, found the weapon

that he needed to use to achieve his goal.

It's payback time.

I felt cornered into doing some kind of violent thing

and that's what happened.

INTERVIEWER: What did you hope to accomplish

in terms of your hurt and your pain by this stabbing?

I didn't hope to accomplish anything.

Just, I'd do it and it would be over with

and then I'd forget about it and...

I'd get that feeling off my back

that I wanted to stab somebody.

I was just kind of taken over by it.

INTERVIEWER: And by stabbing her,

was this somehow hurting them,

hurting the people that had hurt you?

I don't know if I wanted to hurt them

or if I just wanted that urge to hurt, to get somebody,

to st--to do that act, the urge to do it to go away.

Several months ago I kind of was think -

I thought about it, you know,

did I really want to hurt that person

or would I have... would have I,

would I do it over again

if I thought they weren't going to feel any pain?

And I think I would, I'd just do it and say,

"There, I've done it," you know?

Leave me alone, you know?

So the difference between a Sean Clifton

and a person who is not mentally ill

who commits murder

is the fact that the person who has a mental illness

doesn't have a choice in his actions.

His actions are driven by his illness.

On the other hand, the person who,

a regular person who commits murder has a choice,

he makes a choice in interactions.

Hello.

Could I please have a large coffee with two cream

and two teaspoons of honey and a lemon Danish?

Sure.

INTERVIEWER: Are you suggesting that mentally ill people

who commit violent crimes, murders, even,

can in fact be good people?

DET. WHITE: Oh absolutely,

and I've seen it time and time again.

These are good people.

He did a very bad thing but he's still a very good person.

And that's why we can never give up on these people

and that, because they are good people.

CAPPER: Sean absolutely is a kind and decent person.

It's the illness that is the underlying, you know,

cause of the violence.

Not Sean as a person.

Sean is kind, genuine, honest.

They're not born violent.

This is an illness that develops at a certain age.

So absolutely with treatment and medication,

this can be diminished.

And they can live happy, healthy lives.

[♪]

JULIE: I received this letter a little while ago

from Sean Clifton

and I've not had a chance

to read it so I will read it to you.

"Dear Julie and the rest of the Bouvier family:

"I know that nothing I can say can ever make up

"for the ordeal and the pain that you have gone through.

"But I want you to know how deeply sorry I am

"about what I did to Julie

and for the pain I have caused you and your family."

I hope you understand

that I have a very serious mental illness.

That night I was very, very sick.

I was not myself.

I was not violent before I became sick,

I was quite gentle growing up.

"But the night of the incident the illness took over me.

"I could not help myself.

I have thought many times about apologizing to you."

I was not very well.

I found it too hard to put the words on paper.

"I do not want Julie to be afraid of me or to be going out.

"She does not need to worry about me.

"It was just a completely irrational act.

If it had not been her it would have been somebody else."

I accept that I have a mental illness,

I know I need medications.

I know I will have to take them for the rest of my life.

Once again, I want to say I am deeply sorry

to you, Julie, and to Mr. and Mrs. Bouvier

and the entire family.

"I hope you will accept my apology.

Yours sincerely, Sean Clifton."

Wow.

[♪]

ANDY: I don't see him as an evil person,

I see him as a...

as a sick person.

And Sean sounds like a much happier person right now

even taking his medication.

I mean...

JULIE: Um...

I do accept his apology

and I feel his sincerity in this.

I don't find it necessary...

to do it in person.

I think that I get it, I understand.

I truly understand that he is remorseful

for everything that happened that night,

and don't hold anything against him.

And just to hear him say, you know,

that night it was random, it wasn't you,

I wasn't feeling well, I was sick,

that's good enough for me.

NOELLA: We've waited so long for an apology

so it's kind of nice for Julie

to get the letter in hand

and we're very happy and we,

of course we said before that we've forgiven Sean.

So very grateful to get this letter today.

WHALEN: There's been a psychiatric institution

in this community for over a hundred years.

You can go into a local restaurant or a mall

and you'll see maybe every fifteen or twenty minutes

somebody will walk by mumbling to themselves.

Or displaying some sort of behaviour

that again is not within the norm.

Hi, Allie.How are you today?

Good, thanks, how are you?

I'm good, what can I get you today?

Could I please have a medium coffee and--

What would you like in it?

Double cream, please.Okay.

That everything?

WHALEN: They're just accepted as part of the community.

I've never seen them overtly

or in your face people abusing people

in this community that are different.

You have family here?

No, I've got family sort of spread out

through south-eastern Ontario, like in the...

And I told her what was going on,

that they were making a documentary

on recovery from mental illness and things like that.

Well, things will work, so they got you

on the right medication,

it's doing what it's supposed to do?

It's doing its thing,

it's kind of getting me on the path to reality.

Yeah.

INTERVIEWER: So you were very open about the fact,

with a complete stranger, that you had a mental illness.

Yeah I was.

No sense trying to hide it. [chuckles]

How did she respond?

Positively.

What's your name?Sean Clifton.

Sean Clifton.

I'm just a guy from the psyche who's starring in a documentary.

SEAN: She asked me for my autograph,

so I graciously obliged her

and signed an autograph for her.

She'd have talked to me another five or ten minutes,

I think, if I would have had something to say.

Well good for you.Yeah.

Well I wish you all the best.

Thank you very much.

I'm happy for you.Thank you.

That's very good.

Morning, Wayne.

Morning, Sean, how are you this morning?

Good, thanks, how are you?Good, thank you.

SEAN: I like my freedom and, well, like I said, I -

it would be nice to be a regular guy again.

[♪]

I'm not going to say I want to put the crazy period

in the past

and just forget about it.

It's really been an education

and it'll be food for thought for a long time.

I guess I would like to,

I'd like to have my sanity back.

[♪]

[♪]

[♪]