Gary Edwin Mattson’s tendency to perceive personal slights where none actually exist is what often leads to violence, according to the psychiatrist testifying in his dangerous offender hearing.
Dr. Curtis Woods spent the bulk of this morning reading aloud from his 150-page plus report detailing Mattson’s psychological tendencies and troubled history in an almost-empty courtroom.
Mattson pleaded guilty of viciously assaulting St. Albert resident Tom Bregg, an Edmonton Transit bus driver who refused Mattson a ride on his bus in December 2009.
Mattson’s perception extends from his belief that the world is responsible for his lot in life instead of he himself acknowledging responsibility for his actions, Woods said.
“I contend that, because he has a sensitive sense of self worth, he expects to be mistreated by authority figures, has a tendency to withdraw and a proclivity to misinterpret the intentions of others. It’s part of the [paranoid] personality.”
Touching briefly on Mattson’s early childhood years, which were marred by instances of sexual abuse, being abandoned by his father and flipping between living with his mother and a foster family, Woods stated Mattson’s paranoia and narcissism stemmed from repeated instances in which he had been disappointed in life just when it seemed he had taken positive steps.
“There is some capacity for closeness and to settle, then he’s hit with disappointment and creates aggression towards self and others. That disappointment wipes out everything that came before it.”
Woods cited Mattson’s father, who abandoned him, a relationship in which a pregnant woman led Mattson to believe the child was his before revealing it wasn’t and numerous other examples as proof Mattson had come to expect disappointment, and when it came reacted violently.
He also explained it was difficult for Mattson to believe he was responsible for his own actions and empathize with others. In the case of Bregg, Mattson told Woods that it was likely something Bregg said that set him off.
“I think he said something. I think he said, ‘You can afford booze but you can’t afford bus fare,’” Woods quoted Mattson. “‘I punched him, yeah but stomping on him was a little too far. Because he was probably being a dick. I don’t punch someone for no reason.’”
When asked how Bregg might be feeling, Mattson found it difficult to empathize, pointing only to the disfigurement Bregg suffered from the attack and how hard it would be to have people always staring at you. Mattson told Woods he would need a feeling sheet because “I don’t know words for feelings.”
The hearing continues.
