BC court rules against attempted child abductor who seeks release

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A B.C. woman who attempted to abduct a child and was later ruled not responsible due to insanity has lost her bid for freedom.

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According to a Court of Appeal for British Columbia ruling released on Monday, Gabriel Hunter Gibson appealed a decision by the B.C. Review Board (responsible for determining what to do with people who are deemed not criminally responsible for a crime due to insanity) that she remain at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam.

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Gibson was found not criminally responsible in 2018 for attempting to abduct a four-year-old boy who was riding on a bus with his great-grandmother. At the time, court heard Gibson spoke to the great-grandmother and asked questions about the boy before grabbing him by the shoulder and attempting to flee at a bus stop.

Gibson was stopped by others on the bus and subsequently arrested.

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According to the Appeal Court ruling that she be kept at the forensic hospital, Gibson has an extensive history of psychiatric illness and involvement with the criminal justice system.

Gibson also appealed a review board’s decision in 2021 that she remain at the hospital.

After she lost that appeal, Gibson was transferred to a new psychiatrist who ceased electroconvulsive therapy and concluded her mental state had improved.

However, according to the Appeal Court, “Ms. Gibson continues to have delusions that she has children who are missing,” noting she has in the past acted on these delusions. Most recently she contacted the Ministry of Children and Family Development asking for help recovering her son, despite clear evidence she does not have a son.

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She also continues to deny guilt in the 2018 conviction.

Gibson’s psychiatrist, despite noting improvements, said she continued to pose a high risk of violence and should remain in custody with a high level of supervision.

“His view was that, in the absence of close supervision, she was likely to go off her prescribed medication and take illicit drugs. He opined that if she did either, she would become psychotic, with a likelihood that she would become violent or attempt to abduct children, as she has in the past,” the Appeal Court wrote in its ruling.

“(Gibson) indicated that she wished to be absolutely discharged, and she proposed that she would then live independently in Vernon, in a hotel or apartment. She did not provide any realistic proposals as to how she would cope with independent living.”

dcarrigg@postmedia.com

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