The Ontario Review Board (ORB) has officially ordered a psychiatric facility in St. Thomas to begin the relocation of an elderly Wallaceburg man with a mental disorder who killed his wife in 2020.
The 96-year-old will be detained at the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care in St. Thomas, where he has spent the past few months while a long-term care home is found for him.
In a disposition dated May 6, 2022, the ORB ordered the facility to create a program for the "detention in custody and rehabilitation" of the accused.
The senior's lawyer, Greg McGivern, said the hope is that a long-term care facility can be arranged and once that occurs, and is approved by the care providers at the Southwest Centre, he can be moved. The St. Thomas facility would still have oversight of the man even after he moves to a long-term care home.
The order said the senior may only leave any facility for necessary medical, dental, legal, or compassionate purposes at the discretion of the person in charge and must be accompanied by staff or an approved person.
The man, who uses a wheelchair, can also have hospital and grounds privileges, accompanied by staff or a person approved by the person in charge. The hospital and grounds privileges can also be indirectly supervised.
He can also live in supervised accommodations in Southwestern Ontario approved by the person in charge at the St. Thomas facility. However, local police must be notified when the accused is allowed to enter a community and police must be informed of his terms and conditions.
The accused must also report to the St. Thomas psychiatric hospital at least four times a month.
"This disposition will remain operative until a new disposition of the Ontario Review Board is issued. This is therefore to command you, the person in charge of the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care, St. Joseph's Health Care London, in Her Majesty’s name, to execute the terms of this disposition," read the order by the Ontario Review Board.
The senior, who can't be named to protect the victim's identity, was found not criminally responsible for second-degree murder in February of 2022 because of his mental disorder.
