The British Columbia man accused of abducting a three-year-old Sparwood boy is exhausted, "sad and sorry" and possibly under a suicide watch the day after his capture, according to his lawyer.
Randall Peter Hopley, 46, made his first court appearance in the southeastern B.C. city of Cranbrook Wednesday morning, less than 24 hours after he was apprehended in a dramatic takedown just across the Alberta border.
"Mr. Hopley is very sad and sorry for being in the situation that he's in," said Hopley's lawyer, William Thorne. The lawyer has represented the accused on one other occasion.
"He's also glad to see that the young boy got returned home safely. I wouldn't be surprised if he was (under suicide watch)."
Hopley arrived handcuffed and with his shirt pulled up to hide his face to avoid having his picture taken as he walked into the building around 8:30 a.m.
He is charged with kidnapping, abduction of a child under 14 and break and enter after toddler Kienan Hebert was snatched from his home last week.
The little boy was held at an undisclosed location for several days until he was returned safely to his empty family home sometime Sunday morning. Kienan was found sleeping on a couch in his living room after police received a 911 call indicating the boy was now at home. His father described the return as "better than winning the lotto."
Hopley, the sole suspect in the disappearance, was the subject of a massive police manhunt until his capture on Tuesday morning, when he was arrested just a 20-minute drive east of the Hebert home.
Wearing leg shackles, he sat quietly in front of the judge while being ordered to return to court via video conference on Nov. 9.
Hopley was ordered to undergo a full psychiatric evaluation, which will determine if he is unfit to stand trial and whether he was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the alleged offence.
Emotional day
Brandon Johnson, who describes himself as Hopley's best friend and a former heroin addict, said the accused contacted him a few days before his capture.
"He said, ‘My life is over, I gotta go,'" Johnson told CTV News outside the courtroom, adding that he didn't ask Hopley what he was talking about.
"I had an urge, but I didn't say nothing."
Johnson credits Hopley for getting him off drugs and turning his life around.
"He's got me off the streets, he's got me clean. At 16 years old he started talking to me and it's like, sad to see this. It's like seeing my own brother go to jail," he said.
"I'm a little angry but I'm also upset. He made me a promise he wouldn't get into trouble again."
Johnson said Hopley has had an incredibly hard life.
"He's just not all there, he's got some family problems. He was not all there in life and he got pretty much pushed through school."
Thorne said his client has "various kinds" of health issues, but it will be up to health professionals to decide whether he is mentally ill and fit to stand trial.
Emotions outside the court were running high, with one woman wearing a giant sign indicating that she would like Hopley to face the death penalty.
Thorne admitted he is worried about his client's safety in custody in jail, "with possible issues that other prisoners might want to take some retribution on him -- vigilante justice."
"He was Canada's most wanted man there for about five days."
Dramatic capture
A massive manhunt to find Hopley, a convicted sex offender with offences dating back to the 1980s, was intensified after Hebert was brought back to his home under the cover of darkness.
A K-9 team tracked Hopley to an abandoned mining cabin at a limestone quarry near Crowsnest Pass Bible Camp on Tuesday morning.
His 1987 Toyota Camry was also found nearby, and has since been towed in for forensic testing.
After the arrest, RCMP Insp. Brendan Fitzpatrick told reporters Mounties were ecstatic.
"I can tell you that this is one of the best days these investigators have seen."
Police have said very little about where the young boy was during his disappearance, or what they believe transpired during the time it is alleged he was with Hopley.
Paul Hebert, Kienan's father, said his son has enjoyed being back at home with his seven siblings but has started showing some signs of emotional distress.
Hebert said he would seek professional help for the young boy.
Acting Sparwood Mayor Sharon Fraser said the tight-knit community will be forever changed by the abduction.
"We always had a false sense of security that our children were safe. They have a motto that it takes a village to raise a child, and that's what we've learned here," she told CTV News on Tuesday.
A criminal past
Hopley has a criminal record that stretches back more than two decades.
He is charged with squatting for months last year in a cabin belonging to the Skapin family in Crowsnest Pass, filling the drawers with stolen children's clothing, chocolate bars and sex toys and building a room that could be locked from the outside.
Authorities charged Hopley in the case, but released him months later.
In 2008, he pleaded guilty to a break-and-enter that resulted in an 18-month jail sentence.
A Crown spokesperson said Hopley admitted that he tried to abduct a 10-year-old Sparwood boy, but charges of unlawful confinement and attempted abduction were stayed.
He was convicted of sexual assault in 1985. He spent two years behind bars for that charge.
