Psych experts struggle to explain Col. Williams as court hears confession

TORONTO – Experts struggling to explain Col. Russell Williams and his malignant sexual deviancy were handed more contradictory fodder Wednesday as his confession to police was screened in court.

On one hand, Williams shows little concern or regret for the women he terrified, assaulted or killed; on the other, he seems to worry about the impact his unmasking will have on his wife.

He says he tried to figure out what motivated him, but came up blank.

“I don’t know the answers,” he told his police interrogator after his confession “and I’m pretty sure the answers don’t matter.”

The case has fascinated those who work with sexual deviants and addicts, in part because it is so unusual, in part because identifying the factors that drove Williams might help prevent future cases.

“There’s a lot of learning that can be done here and we don’t have the opportunity to do it yet,” said Dr. Stephen Raffle, a forensic psychiatrist based in San Francisco.

“There are many more questions than there are answers.”

Experts say it will likely take time and a much deeper knowledge of Williams to get some of those answers.

Some speculate Williams had gender-identity issues, that his cross-dressing and self-pleasuring with stolen women’s underwear could indicate homosexual tendencies he fought to suppress.

“Is there a part of you that wants to be Miss Williams?” Raffle said he would want to know.

“What is the fantasy during the masturbation?”

Others suggest a fragmented personality, a “splitting off” of parts of his life as he sought sexual gratification to reduce increasingly painful anxieties.

Liam Ennis, an assistant clinical professor in psychiatry at the University of Alberta, said what drives someone to sexual sadism is poorly understood.

“We don’t have a single well validated theory as to how people become like this,” Ennis said.

In many ways, though, Williams’ behaviour was in keeping with sexual compulsions.

He took more chances and exhibited the progressively more extreme conduct associated with the increased need for a thrill.

“Behaviours like this can be intensively compulsive, driven by emotional and (lower brain) forces that are often not rational,” said Dr. Charles Perkel, an addictions psychiatrist in New York City.

“It is mysterious that someone can lead such a double life. This is mystifying stuff; I don’t think there are easy explanations at all.”

Dr. Julian Gojer, a forensic psychiatrist in Toronto, agreed that Williams’ sexual deviation had taken control of his life even though he held down the demanding job of running the country’s largest military airbase and had a seemingly happy marriage.

Williams may well have felt badly about what he was doing and about hurting his wife, but was overwhelmed by his need for self-gratification.

“Psychopaths can also have feelings for someone who they truly care about, but have no compunction or feelings about other people,” Gojer said.

However, others said Williams’ concern for his wife or the impact his downfall would have on the military might actually be further evidence of psychopathic tendencies.

He might only have been worried about damage to his image as a good husband or strong commander, Ennis said.