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<\/p>\nA psychologist who testified before the Criminal Code Review Board about a mental health patient, without disclosing she was in an abusive sexual relationship with him, should go to jail for two years, a judge was told Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo expert witness has ever breached the public trust in such a profound way and obstructed justice in this way ever,\u201d Crown attorney Sivananthan Sivarouban told provincial court Judge Kusham Sharma.<\/p>\n
Neither the accused nor her patient can be identified under terms of a publication ban.<\/p>\n
In late 2019, the accused began working with the patient and inmate, who had been found not criminally responsible for a murder years earlier. Months later, the two started having sex.<\/p>\n
The review board approves the conditions placed on people found not criminally responsible and can adjust their treatment or approve their release into the community based on the submissions of mental health professionals.<\/p>\n
Many members of the public have a skeptical opinion of how people found not criminally responsible for their actions are treated by the review board, Sivarouban said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe accused\u2019s actions reduced the trust that we hold in the review board and leads to questions of how can you trust any of their decisions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Court has heard the patient began telling the psychologist about his affection for her after she had been treating him for several months, and she ultimately told him she, too, had feelings for him.<\/p>\n
The two had sex for the first time three months later, although the patient soon turned aggressive and domineering, as he harassed her husband for several years and tried to manipulate and sexually abuse her as she tried to stop the relationship.<\/p>\n
The woman was fired from her job when the sexual relationship came to light and has since been stripped of her professional certification.<\/p>\n
In a decision in March, Sharma found the psychologist guilty of one count of breach of trust by a public official and one count of attempting to obstruct justice for giving misleading and dishonest information to the review board.<\/p>\n
Sharma acquitted her of a second count of breach of trust that was related to the relationship she had with the patient while working as his psychologist at a mental-health facility.<\/p>\n
Sharma found the psychologist kept \u201csignificant information\u201d from the Criminal Code Review Board on several occasions from 2021 to 2022 to help the patient \u201cachieve his goal of being released into the community,\u201d or not be charged with other crimes or to protect her reputation.<\/p>\n
In October 2024, the patient pleaded guilty to criminal harassment and was sentenced to three years of probation. Court heard he called and texted the psychologist\u2019s husband hundreds of times during a three-year period, boasted about his sexual relationship with the man\u2019s wife and sent him nude pictures of her.<\/p>\n
Defence lawyer Manny Bhangu urged Sharma on Friday to grant the woman a conditional discharge, arguing she has suffered the loss of her career and was herself the victim of the patient\u2019s abusive and extortive demands.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an extremely unique situation that I would suggest is without precedent,\u201d Bhanghu said. \u201cThis was not a relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman told court she feels \u201cdeeply ashamed and embarrassed\u201d by her actions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI naively believed my education and professional training and experience would protect me from becoming personally involved\u2026 I was very wrong,\u201d the woman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven as his behaviour became troubling and more aggressive, I continued to see the best in him,\u201d she said. \u201cI believed his behaviour toward me and my husband was exclusively my fault.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sharma will sentence the woman at a later date.<\/p>\n
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Dean Pritchard Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Courts reporter
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