N.S. man found not criminally responsible for killing wife released on conditions

A Cape Breton man found not criminally responsible for killing his wife has been granted a conditional discharge.

Richard Maidment, who also goes by the surname McNeil, was first charged with first-degree murder after killing Sarabeth Forbes on April 18, 2017, in their Gardiner Mines home.

However, he was found not criminally responsible and confined to the East Coast Forensic Hospital in Dartmouth, N.S., in December 2017. Maidment has schizophrenia.

Nova Scotia's Criminal Code Review Board signed off on the conditional discharge Feb.3. The conditions stipulate Maidment must live with his parents and notify the forensic hospital if his address changes.

Other conditions include Maidment abstaining fromcontacting his son andseveral members of Forbes' family, including her mother,Emeline Forbes.

Emeline Forbes was a part of a recent legal dispute with Maidment's mother, Linda McNeil, over a life-insurance policy taken out in Sarabeth Forbes' name. Emeline Forbes claimed the insurance money on behalf of her grandson, who she is now raising. McNeilclaimed it on behalf of her son.

On Jan.15, the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia awarded Maidment the money on the basis that he was found not criminally responsible for Forbes' killing.

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