Wilfred Desmond and Albert MacLellan took many long drives together as they ferried a family member’s limousines around the province.
Desmond, father to 22 (two were adopted) and a beloved patriarch of Lincolnville, would worry to his longtime friend, a retired Canadian Armed Forces warrant officer, about one of his over 50 grandchildren.
“He was proud of (Cpl. Lionel Desmond) but he had concerns like anyone else about Afghanistan and that stuff,” MacLellan told the Desmond Fatality Inquiry on Thursday of what Wilfred would tell him on those drives.
“All I could tell him is, if (Lionel) kept his head on straight he’ll be O.K, that’s all you could say.”
Though Lionel came back from the Afghan conflict in body, his head was never the same.
As the second sitting of the inquiry continues to unveil the web of bureaucratic red tape veterans seeking help can find themselves tangled in, it is also introducing us to something that wasn’t part of its mission to make recommendations that could prevent a repeat of Jan. 3, 2017.
'They were cooking curried chicken'
A proud black community in rural Guysborough County that sought to wrap its arms around a family struggling with the memories of a war half a world away.
A family who is refusing to allow the disease that took their mother, brother, sister-in-law and niece, to also steal how they are remembered.
Even as they now suffer, too, from their own post traumatic stress disorder brought on by the quadruple murder suicide.
“They were cooking curried chicken and I could see onions,” remembered Chantel Desmond of walking into the house Shanna and Lionel shared in Upper Big Tracadie that horrible night.
“I could see my brother’s boots, Dunlops.”
She’d come to pick up her soon-to-be 10-year-old niece Aaliyah for one of their regular outings.
“I just wanted to give (Aaliyah) a break every Tuesday to breathe and be a child,” testified Chantel.
“… I remember she told me ‘I love my Daddy but he’s angry a lot.’”
A changed man
Chantel loved Lionel too.
He was her big brother and had always looked out for her.
But he was different when he came home.
“He always had his back to the wall in a room, always backed his car in away from other cars,” testified Chantel.
“He didn’t like hearing kids scream, loud noises, you could see him tense right up.”
Meanwhile, she, her sisters and mother hadn’t even heard of PTSD or Veterans Affairs Canada.
They testified that they heard nothing from the government on how to take care of their brother.
Lionel Desmond struggled to even get his own medical records.
MacLellan testified that Desmond was directed to seek them from the federal Department of Defence through a freedom of information request so psychiatric staff at the provincial health authority could better understand his complex medical history.
“Four people are dead because they didn’t take one simple step,” testified MacLellan.
“It should be up to the (armed forces member being released). In their pre-release interview they could ask would you like copy of your medical documents on the way out?”
Not enough support
Chantel told the inquiry that she believes Lionel Desmond wouldn’t have ended up killing his wife Shanna, mother Brenda and daughter Aaliyah if more supports had been in place when he left an inpatient occupational stress injury clinic in Quebec three months early in 2016.
In his final months, Lionel would often make angry posts on Facebook about his wife. He stopped shaving as often and was regularly wearing camouflage.
The psychiatric staff associated with St. Martha's Regional Hospital in Antigonish were still trying to understand the extent and complexity of both Desmond's PTSD and his head injuries, when he bought a rifle and killed the women in his life, followed by himself.
On Jan.3, 2017, Chantel Desmond ran from her brother's house, fell to her knees in the driveway and screamed as her own child watched from their car.
Later that night, MacLellan got a call from his old friend,Wilfred Desmond.
He needed him to help find a way to bury three generations of his own family.
MacLellan would have to threaten Veterans Affairs with going to the media to get them to pay for all the funerals.
"I'm not looking for an explanation but I'm not looking for a Band-Aid either," testified MacLellan.
"There has to be a better way of doing business."
