Court of Appeal for Ontario
Date: 2017-01-16 Docket: C62177
Judges: Feldman, Rouleau and van Rensburg JJ.A.
In the Matter of: Robert Abernethy
An Appeal Under Part XX.1 of the Code
Counsel:
- Ian B. Kasper and Anita Szigeti, for the appellant
- Scott Latimer, for the Attorney General of Ontario
Heard: January 13, 2017
On appeal against the disposition of the Ontario Review Board dated April 27, 2016.
Appeal Book Endorsement
1The appellant raises two grounds of appeal. The first is that the Board should have made further inquiries of Dr. Coleman or another doctor regarding the cause of his psychosis, whether from liver disease or from bipolar disorder.
2We do not agree. Dr. Coleman's evidence clearly was that the appellant maintained his psychotic symptoms that made him a danger to the public regardless of the cause. The Board made no error in accepting the joint position that the appellant remained a significant risk to the safety of the public.
3The second ground was that the Board erred by rejecting the hospital's and the appellant's position on two conditions regarding access to the community and an approved person. We see no error in either the conclusion of the Board to give more limited community access at this time and to reject an approved person at this time, or in the reasons the Board gave in paragraph 44, that the appellant was not yet ready for those conditions.
4The appeal is therefore dismissed.