April Irving in 2015 - Photo: Lethbridge News Now

By Lara Fominoff

mental health assessment

Psychiatric assessment results are in, trial for April Irving could go ahead

Apr 24, 2019 | 2:51 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Nearly two and a half months after a forensic assessment was ordered for April Dawn Irving, psychiatrists at the Southern Alberta Forensic Psychiatry Centre have found that the 59-year old was not likely suffering from a mental illness, and may be held criminally responsible for 14 charges she is facing, that date back to 2015.

According to her lawyer, Bjoern Wolkmann, a trial may go ahead, if the Crown and Defense don’t resolve the matters prior to that.

The results of the assessment were presented to an agent for Irving’s lawyer, in Lethbridge Provincial Court Tuesday, April 23. A copy of it was given to the judge, Crown and later to the Defense.

The purpose of the assessment was to determine whether Irving may have been suffering from a mental illness at the time of her alleged offences.

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The former Milk River resident is facing charges including cruelty to animals and causing or permitting an animal to be in distress. Irving was arrested and charged in Jan. 2015, after more than 200 dogs were seized from her property, and another five dogs were found dead.

The animals were discovered starving, dehydrated and chained to stakes in the yard.

She was ordered to undergo an out of custody psychiatric assessment in late 2015, but never had it completed.

In early 2016, a warrant was issued for her arrest, after she ignored two orders to appear in court. Saskatchewan RCMP released a photo of a person they believed was Irving in late 2016, and she was spotted in Jamaica in 2017.

She was located by RCMP in Stonewall, Manitoba in January 2019 and returned to Lethbridge to face her outstanding charges.

On March 29, she pleaded guilty to one count of failing to appear. She was sentenced to 30 days but had already served her time. She has pleaded not guilty to the rest of the charges.

Irving will be back in court May 9th, when a pre-trial conference date could be set.

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