The personality of former Mixed Martial Arts fighter Justin Primmer was put under the microscope during the Crown’s dangerous offender application heard at the London courthouse on Wednesday.
Forensic Psychiatrist Dr. Phil Klassen assessed Primmer’s personality to Superior Court Justice Alissa Mitchell through psychological evaluations written by himself and other psychiatrists.
Klassen says Primmer is believed to have an anti-social personality disorder, narcissistic traits and a substance abuse disorder.
According to the psychological evaluations, Primmer is a high risk for general violence recidivism and “a very high risk” for domestic violence recidivism.
Klassen says the use of specific instruments including the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG) and the Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Appraisal (ODARA) were used for assessment in the evaluations.
“The best risk assessment product that forensic psychology or psychiatry can offer -particularly in serious proceedings and where long term risk is an issue- comes from the use of well-validated, structured and actuarial tools such as the ODARA and VRAG,” Klassen said.
Klassen says that percentiles obtained from these tools are important for determining the likelihood for an offender to re-offend, but that the results should not be taken with absolute certainty.
“I think that the percentile score and the probabilities should be taken as a guide and are useful in that way, but I don’t think we should attach an almost surgical kind of importance to a specific number,” Klassen said.
A publication ban remains in effect on the names of specific witnesses related to the case.
Court is expected to resume at 10 a.m. on Friday.
(With files from Liam Fennell/XFM News)
