Accused murderer Richard Bain says medication gave him energy to do anything, ‘right or wrong’

Richard Bain, dressed in a suit and tie, casually told the jury in his murder trial on Monday that an anti-depressant changed his life, making it difficult for him to tell right from wrong.

• Follow our live blog of Richard Bain’s testimony here

Bain began taking Cymbalta, a serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, after falling into what he called “a big depression.” He described the drug as giving him a massive boost of energy. He said he had enough “energy to sell.”

But Bain also told the court the drug affected his behaviour and his moral compass.

“It gives you the energy to do what you want to do, right or wrong,” he told the jury.

“Things come into my mind, and yah you do it … it makes you not responsible.”

• CBC’s complete coverage of the Richard Bain murder trial

Bain is accused of shooting and killing Denis Blanchette outside Montreal’s Metropolis concert hall on the night of the 2012 provincial election.

He also faces three counts of attempted murder, an arson charge and possession of an incendiary device. He has pleaded not guilty.

• RECAP | What we know so far about Quebec’s deadly election-night shooting

The defence is arguing that Bain is not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder. He is the first witness they have called in the trial. 

The Crown in the Richard Bain trial presented this still image extracted from surveillance video, captured the afternoon of the shooting inside the front entrance of the former Royal Victoria Hospital. (Royal Victoria Hospital security footage)

‘Wine, champagne, strippers’

After swearing on his own copy of the Bible, Bain testified that after taking Cymbalta he broke up with his girlfriend of 20 years.

He then started going to strip clubs almost every night, running up bar tabs that reached as high as $800.

“The best of wine, champagne, strippers,” Bain told the jury.

Bain also believed that the H1N1 virus would one day mutate, causing civil order to disintegrate.

As a result he stockpiled Cymbalta, along with guns, ammunition and food at his remote fishing lodge in La Conception, Que. 

Even though his doctor later prescribed new medication, Bain said he went back to taking Cymbalta. 

But in the months before the fall 2012 provincial election, Bain said that business was so busy at his fishing lodge that he stopped going to nightclubs.

Memory lapses the day of the shooting

The jury has already heard that the afternoon before the shooting, Bain visited his sister-in-law at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal.

Bain provided more details of that visit on Monday. 

She’d been waiting in hospital for a surgery, Bain testified, but it kept getting postponed and she was suffering.

Bain said he started the day off in a good mood, but things changed after he saw his sister-in-law in pain.

He said “logic dictates” that he drove back to his cabin in La Conception to get the semi-automatic rifles and handguns that were later found on him.

But Bain told the jury he has no memory of doing that.

Not criminally responsible defence

Richard Bain, wearing a blue bathrobe, is led away by police after the fatal shooting outside Montreal’s Metropolis concert hall. (Radio-Canada)

Defence lawyer Alan Guttman opened his case on Monday with a brief outline of his argument for the jury. 

“I’m sure you can all guess that our defence is going to be one of criminally not responsible,” he said before inviting Bain to take the stand.

?Guttman is using the not criminally responsible (NCR) defence, also known as Section 16 of the Criminal Code of Canada, which states “no person is criminally responsible for an act committed … while suffering from a mental disorder that rendered the person incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act” or of “knowing that it was wrong.” 

In earlier testimony, the jury heard from Bain’s friends and family that they noticed changes in his behaviour leading up to the shooting. 

Philippe Laberge, a close friend of Bain’s, told the court he was a “wounded man” after the break-up and that he became increasingly agitated. 

• Richard Bain’s friend says ‘this is not the man I knew’

Both Laberge and Bain’s brother, Richard, testified that the accused was not himself on the night the shooting took place. 

• Watch the tearful police interview with the accused’s brother

TV footage from that night shows Bain wearing a bathrobe, being led away by police as he yells “the English are waking up!”