After hearing heart-breaking statements Monday from the families of victims, court in Sudbury on Tuesday listened to details about the mental health of one of the men responsible for a fatal fire in 2021.
Jared Herrick pleaded guilty late last year to three counts of manslaughter and one count of arson causing bodily harm in connection with the deaths.
Herrick is being sentenced for his role in the arson, which took place on Bruce Avenue in April 2021.
Three people died as a result -- Jamie-Lynn Lori-Lee Rose, Jasmine Marie-Claire Somers and Guy Armand Henri. A fourth was badly injured but managed to escape by jumping out of a window.
Dr. Milan Pomichalek, a forensic clinical psychologist, testified that Herrick has post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from traumatic events that began in his childhood.
Pomichalek told defence attorney Len Walker that trauma began with Herrick’s violent and neglectful father and escalated with a series of deaths of people close to him when he was young.
He also moved frequently after his parents split up and suffered from a sense of abandonment.
He survived many suicide attempts as he tried to cope with PTSD, which led to severe, long-term depression.
Pomichalek testified that people with PTSD often turn to drug abuse as a way of self-medicating and to cope with the overwhelming emotions that they can’t handle.
“Short-term solutions to the problem that plagues them,” the physician testified.
“(After,) they feel so much worse for it.”
They struggle with relationships and intimacy, yet yearn to overcome the feelings of abandonment.
“I hate you, don’t leave me,” Pomichalek said of the feelings people in that position express.
“They feel like they are no good. ‘I have a guilt I will never get rid of. I am a moral failure.’”
It’s like being in a constant state of fight or flight, he said, and that leads people to withdraw and indulge in substance abuse.
“He is severely depressed, discouraged and withdrawn,” Pomichalek said.
“He considers himself damaged … perhaps irreparably.”
While he is troubled, Herrick is not a psychopath, Pomichalek added.
“He’s definitely not a psychopath.”
That’s a positive sign that he’s a good candidate for rehabilitation, he said.
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The sentencing hearing is expected to wrap up Wednesday.
A publication ban on details of what happened the night of the fire is in place until the trial of the final suspect in the case, Liam Stinson, who is expected to go on trial next year.
