Accused N.S. killer's mom says system failed

A Nova Scotia woman saysthe province's mental health system failed her son,a convicted killer who is still facing two first-degree murder charges.

Glen Race, 29,who was convicted of first-degree murder in New York state in January 2009,isin his home province of Nova Scotia for court proceedings on twofirst-degree murder charges. He was returned to Canada in October but is expected to return to the U.S. to serve his sentence there after the Canadian court proceedings are complete.

He is chargedin the deaths of Michael Paul Knott and Trevor Charles Brewster, who were bothfound dead in the Halifax area in May 2007. His next Canadian court appearance is scheduled for April 21.

On Tuesday, hisparents, Mark and Donna Race, spoke out about their son for the first time since his arrest in 2007following a continent-wide manhunt.

Donna told a news conference in Halifax thatthe mental health system failed her son, who was first diagnosed with schizophreniain 2001 whenhe was a student at Dalhousie University.

Over the years, her son'sbizarre behaviour got worse,Donna said. He refused treatments and wouldn't take his medications. Racesaid she always feared losinghim to his mental illness. Now, she said, she's lost him.

The week before the murders in Nova Scotia, she called police and doctors to try to get her son readmitted to hospital but was told there was nothing they could do.

Still,Donna said,she never believed her son could or would kill someone.

"To have him at the point where he would hurt somebody like he has, I never would have thought that," she said. "He wasn't that type of young man."

In January 2009, Race was sentenced to25 years to life in prison for killing Darcy Manor in Mooers, N.Y., in May 2007. The prosecution alleged during the trial that Race shot Manor, 35, in the back at a secluded hunting lodge.

Mark Race said funding for mental health in Canada and Nova Scotia is below other developed countries, adding thatmore awareness is needed about mental health to remove its stigma.

Race's brother Doug said the system isn't completely to blame if someone doesn't want to accept treatment.

Family members are hoping GlenRace is found not criminally responsible for his actions at his Canadian trial.

"It's obviously something the public would be very concerned about," Doug said. "But that again boils down to the awareness of the illness and how these types of symptoms can be controlled with medication."

Joel Pink, Glen Race's lawyer, is trying to find grounds to overturn the extradition order that says he must be returned to the U.S. to serve his sentence there. ButPink said he expects that will be an uphill battle.

Racemay also appeal the U.S. conviction because the lawyer there never raised an insanity defence.

Family members said they visit him often in a Halifax prison. Since his U.S. conviction, Race has been receiving psychiatric treatment, is back on his medication and is doing well, say family members.