Mother of man convicted of killing his father says son didn't get the help he needed
Warning: Some readers may find the details in this article disturbing.
Anna McKee, the mother of a man convicted of killing his father in their Penetanguishene, Ont. home, says a broken mental health system failed her family, leaving them to fend for themselves before her husband's murder in 2019.
"I just feel empty, at a loss for words. I feel numb and, at times, super angry at the entire system," she said in an exclusive interview with CTV News Barrie.
In November, Brad McKee was found guilty of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of his father, Bill, 59.
His mother says her son attempted suicide several times, having overdosed at least 30 times before her husband's death.
Anna says Brad struggled with paranoia and appeared drunk the night her husband of 33 years died on their ensuite bathroom floor.
Brad, 31, now faces the rest of his life behind bars.
"My husband is dead, my son is disabled, and people have to open up their eyes. And I want to give a message to the prime minister and all the health ministers to get their act together," she said.
Anna says her son struggled with mental health and addiction issues to prescription drugs for years, adding both she and her husband felt "trapped" with no options while trying to get him the care he refused.
"I have a list of different places that we went to that turned him away," she claimed, noting she and Bill wrote an eight-page letter "begging" hospital officials to keep their son for treatment.
Ultimately, growing tensions between Brad and his parents culminated on the night of Feb. 11, 2019, when he locked his parents inside their home and fatally stabbed his father in the neck before turning the weapon to injure himself.
Anna insists her son told her he didn't mean to kill his father.
"It was out of control," she recalled.
Brad has plans to appeal his murder conviction, while his mother hopes he can finally get the help he needs, vowing to fight for her son and praying no other family goes through what they have under a "broken" system.
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