Coroner’s inquest into 2018 death of accused Yukon mail bomber starts in Whitehorse | CBC News

A coroner’s inquest is underway this week into the 2018 death of a Whitehorse man who was incarcerated at the city’s correctional centre. 

The deceased, 73-year-old Leon Nepper, made the news five years ago when he was accused of sending a mail bomb to his brother in B.C. 

His brother, Roger Nepper, lost three fingers after he opened a package that exploded on him at his home in Port Alice, B.C., in September 2018. Roger’s wife, Shirley Bowick, also suffered burns to her hands.

Leon Nepper was facing several charges including attempted murder. Just weeks after his arrest, however, Leon Nepper died while in custody.  At the time, chief coroner Heather Jones said the man went into medical distress at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre and was taken to the hospital where he was later declared dead. 

Leon Nepper had not yet entered pleas to the charges or applied to be released on bail when he died.

Presiding coroner Mara Pollock and a jury heard from several witnesses on Monday as the inquest began, including Leon Nepper’s long-time friend, Dianne Marie Gonet.

She told the jury that Nepper was a resourceful, hard-working man. 

“I used to call him ‘the wizard’ because he knew so much about everything and had a way of describing complex things in a way that made them seem simple,” Gonet said. 

Medical condition 

Dr. Lucille Stuart also testified Monday. Stuart was working as a family doctor at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre when Nepper was incarcerated. She said Nepper was on a liquid diet as well as taking several medications for previous cancer-related pain — including several strong opioid pain medicines.

She told the jury while she didn’t have concern over the dosage, she did have some concerns over the combination of opioid and sleeping pills that “could cause sedation and suppress the ability to breathe.” 

But Stuart said the multiple prescriptions were not dangerous to Nepper at the time as he had become accustomed to it all. 

Nepper had a complex medical condition from previous cancers, she added, but there were no symptoms showing he could be facing imminent death. Stuart had reviewed a CT scan from August of that same year. She said it showed “no convincing sign of recurring cancer.” 

When asked about the medical care inmates receive, Stuart said it’s “far higher” than what’s obtained in the community. Inmates can access nursing care at all times, with physicians and doctors on-call, she said. 

One of the prison officers also testified on Leon Nepper’s medical condition. 

Sebastien Johnson, who used to work at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre in the admission and discharge unit, said he recommended that Nepper be placed under camera surveillance. He described Nepper as someone who was “missing his right jaw” — a consequence of radiation treatment — and couldn’t see out of his right eye. 

According to Johnson, there were no concerns that Nepper was suicidal. 

The jury reviewed surveillance footage from Nepper’s prison cell on the day he died. It shows several officers performing CPR on a extremely thin man. Nepper was unresponsive. 

The inquest is scheduled to continue all week and a final report is expected later this year.