Ontario Review Board
Re: Mark Duckett
ORB File No: 8213
Hearing held on: Monday, January 27, 2025
Place of hearing: Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care 401 Sunset Drive, St. Thomas
Pursuant to: Section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code
Before:
Alternate Chairperson: Ms. T. Mann
Members: Dr. A.D. Jones Dr. S. Wiseman Ms. K. Tomaszewski Ms. C. Plyley
Parties Appearing:
Accused: Mark Duckett Counsel: Mr. G.M. Read
The person in charge of Hospital: Counsel: Ms. J. Zamprogna
Attorney General of Ontario: Counsel: Mr. D. Rows
REASONS FOR DISPOSITION
(Dated March 31, 2025)
Introduction
On January 10, 2023, Mr. Mark Duckett was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder, on a charge of first-degree murder, contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada (“the Criminal Code”).
Mr. Duckett is currently subject to a Disposition of the Ontario Review Board (“the Board”), dated February 8, 2024 and detained at the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care, St. Joseph's Health Care London (“the Southwest Centre” or “the Hospital”). This Disposition provides him with certain privileges, the highest level being to enter the community of Elgin and Middlesex Counties, indirectly supervised, as well as passes for up to 72 hours, up to six times a year, to enter the community of Southern and Southwestern Ontario with a person approved by the person in charge.
On January 27, 2025, the Board convened a hearing at the Southwest Centre to conduct the annual review of the current Disposition.
Mr. Duckett was present at the hearing and was represented by counsel, Mr. Geoffrey Read. Mr. D. Rows appeared for the Attorney General of Ontario. The Hospital was represented by Ms. Julie Zamprogna. Also in attendance at the hearing were several members of the victim’s family, including his mother, as well as a social worker from the forensic unit in which Mr. Duckett resides.
At issue in the hearing was whether Mr. Duckett is a significant threat to the safety of the public and, if so, the necessary and appropriate, least onerous and least restrictive Disposition in the circumstances, bearing in mind the factors set out in s. 672.54 of the Criminal Code.
Current Psychiatric Diagnosis
- Mr. Duckett is diagnosed with a major mental illness being Schizophrenia (paranoid type).
Index Offence
- At 1:15 am on the 30'' July, 2019, a male broke through the front door of 55 Magnolia Dr, Hamilton, and shot and killed Nikkolas Sienna. Charged with First Degree Murder is Mark DUCKETT (92/09/26) of Hamilton.
The victim in this case, 28-year-old Nikkolas Sienna, lived with his girlfriend Jen, his adult sister, Alexandria, his mother Cathy and her boyfriend Haosar at 55 Magnolia Dr on the West Mountain of Hamilton. This is a residential neighbourhood and theirs is a single family, raised ranch bungalow with an attached garage. The accused, Mark DUCKETT lived with his parents next door at 53 Magnolia Dr in a similar raised ranch bungalow.
The two families have been amicable neighbours for years, but their relationship never graduated to what would be called friendship. The Ducketts are in their 6Os and had adopted Mark DUCKETT as a baby; they have no other children.
The accused DUCKETT had attended college and worked sporadically but mostly kept to himself, according to his family. There had been no previous interactions with the police and he had never been in trouble. Within the last year he had taken a firearms course and had obtained a PAL with the support of his mother and a friend as his references (his mother now maintains that although she did sign the application she was not aware of the nature of the form). Shortly after obtaining his PAL this past winter he bought a legally registered Glock 9mm pistol. Mr. and Mrs. Duckett have stated that they had no idea that their accused son ever had a gun in the house.
Over the past few months the parents observed that Mark had become somewhat paranoid of the neighbours at 55, drawing his curtains (his bedroom window looks onto the side of the house at 55 Magnolia) and installing a video camera pointed across the lawn at the front of 55 Magnolia. He had demonstrated some anxiety and his parents urged him to see the doctor. At one point Mr. Duckett returned early from a vacation because Mark was so anxious and paranoid about the neighbours. After the murder another neighbour reported that Mark had rung their doorbell several times and then watched far their reaction. None of these observations by DUCKETT's family or other neighbours was ever reported to the police and only came out in statements after the fact. Mark DUCKETT has no diagnosis of a mental illness.
On the night of the 29th of July, 2019, at about 10pm, Nikkolas Sienna called the police to respond to their house. The Sienna family explained to the HPS officers their concerns and that they were fearful of Mark DUCKETT. The two officers then attended the Duckett's and spoke with Mark. DUCKETT denied ever looking in the window and couldn't understand why the police had been called. Regardless he was warned to stay on his property and to leave the Sienna's alone. The Sienna's were advised to call 911 if anything further happened; they were satisfied at that point and all went to bed and had no further contact with DUCKETT.
Just after 1am smashing was heard at the front door and Nikkolas Sienna responded from his basement bedroom. He got to the top of the stairs and confronted someone that investigators believe to be Mark DUCKETT. Nikkolas was heard to yell "no, no" and then several gunshots followed. Cathy called 911 from her bedroom as she hid with her boyfriend. Jen and Alexandria ran out the basement rear exit and ran around to the side of the house as they heard the gunshots. After the shots had ceased the family emerged from hiding and found Nikkolas suffering from several injuries as he lay on the living room floor. The front door of the house had been smashed in. Police and paramedics responded but Nikkolas was without vital signs and never regained consciousness. He was pronounced dead at the scene via the paramedic's protocol with their base hospital.
About 15-20 minutes after the shooting Mark DUCKETT arrived at the Mountain police station located at 400 Rymal Rd E in Hamilton (the length of time suggests that he would have driven straight from home to the station). DUCKETT left his car parked in the lot and entered the station and surrendered to the police on duty at the front desk. He entered and laid down in a facedown, prone position prior to any engagement with the officers. He indicated that he was involved in the shooting and was cuffed and arrested for murder… The gun would later be identified as a Glock 9mm pistol, the same one that is registered to DUCKETT.
A post mortem exam was conducted upon the body of Nikkolas Sienna and eight bullets were removed from his body, but he had 12 holes in him. Several were lethal shots to his torso. An analysis of the scene, taken together with what was gleaned from the various statements, lead investigators to believe that the following was the sequence, of events:
Mark DUCKETT smashed through the glass of the front door of 55 Magnolia with a brick;
He then reached through an unlocked the door proper and entered the home; He then confronted Nikkolas Sienna in the portion of the house where the front hallway blends into the open concept kitchen and living room area (this is all on the same floor as the front entrance);
Nikkolas pleaded 'no, no' to DUCKETT but received no response;
DUCKETT fired several shots into Sienna within close range, changed magazines and kept firing (an empty, discarded eight-round magazine was found near where several empty casings were on the floor); and
DUCKETT then fled on foot across the lawn to his mother's car and drove away, most probably in a direct route to the Mountain police station.
DUCKETT was held in custody."
Background
- Last year’s Reasons for Disposition summarize Mr. Duckett’s background, as follows:
The Hospital Report contains a significant amount of information pertaining to Mr. Duckett’s background and need not be reviewed beyond the following highlights. Mr. was born in Calgary. He immediately was apprehended by the Children’s Aid Society and placed in a foster home. He was adopted by his parents at the age of two. In 2000, the family moved to Ontario where Mr. Duckett experienced a “normal” childhood, going to school, playing sports and enjoying time with friends and family. He completed high school and achieved certificates in Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Techniques and Gas and Oil Burner Technician from Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ontario. At the time of the index offence he was employed as a fireplace installer.
Mr. Duckett reported that he first tried cannabis at the age of fourteen and only smoked on an infrequent basis. He tried alcohol when he was nineteen years old and reported only drinking casually. He has no criminal record.
According to the Hospital Report, Mr. Duckett’s parents observed a change in their son following college. He began to endorse auditory hallucinations and paranoia, including feeling others were laughing and talking about him, following him and believing that cars were following him. They also noted that he began to display bizarre behaviours including screaming in the night and isolating himself to the family home. He believed that his life was in danger but he was unable to identify who would be targeting him. His parents reported their observations to their family physician, who advised that, due to patient confidentiality, he could not assist them in the absence of their son. Mr. Duckett’s parents encouraged him to seek professional help but he declined. Mr. Duckett has never engaged in any outpatient mental health services.
Following his arrest for the index offence, Mr. Duckett was held at the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre. He was noted to present with paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, and suicidal and homicidal thoughts. He refused medication. On May 5, 2022 he was placed on a Form 1 and transferred to the Acute Stabilization Unit at St. Joseph’s where he remained until September 26, 2022. Over the course of his admission he was adherent to treatment and made progress. He no longer endorsed paranoia or auditory hallucinations. His discharge diagnosis was Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder.”
- Mr. Duckett is currently 33 years of age. At the time of the index offence, he was undiagnosed and untreated.
Overview of Progress Under the Jurisdiction of the Board
On November 10, 2022, Mr. Duckett was transferred from the Hamilton Wentworth Detention Centre and admitted to the Forensic Psychiatry unit at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton. Initially he remained secluded to his room and appeared guarded. He experienced ongoing psychotic symptoms despite his adherence to a therapeutic dose of antipsychotics; he reported ongoing auditory hallucinations and delusions of a persecutory nature. Over time, he gradually stabilized and was more visible on the unit. He was observed to be pleasant, calm, organized and co-operative, following directions well. However, his insight into his illness was partial and in need of further improvement. Similarly, his insight into his need for medication was limited as he continued to voice a desire to someday reduce them to see if he could manage his symptoms without any psychiatric medications. His symptoms were considered slow to respond to treatment and appeared correlated to increased stressors and environmental changes.
Mr. Duckett was transferred from St. Joseph’s Hamilton to the Southwest Centre on July 12, 2023, and was admitted to the Forensic Treatment Unit (A2) under the care of Dr. N. Mokhber. His mental status remained relatively stable although he periodically demonstrated residual symptoms of his illness, including paranoid thoughts, delusions of a persecutory nature and passive suicidal ideation. These thoughts were concerning because they were related to increased stress as well as fear towards staff and the side effects of his medication.
Prior to coming under Dr. Mokhber’s care, Mr. Duckett had been trialed on various medications to deal with his residual symptoms. In early December of 2023, Mr. Duckett was started on clozapine, as well as a long-acting injectable antipsychotic. Over time, this medication proved to be of benefit in reducing his residual symptoms. Sometimes Mr. Duckett lacked transparency or was not entirely forthcoming with his treatment team. When stressful situations were apparent (such as being served with legal documents in connection with civil litigation commenced against him by the victim’s family), Mr. Duckett’s persecutory delusions intensified. This was a risk factor that was flagged for additional intervention and assessment.
Continued close monitoring was required due to his serious and chronic mental health diagnosis, and the speed with which he could potentially relapse. Mr. Duckett was described as being cooperative and goal-oriented; he expressed a wish to attend college and to eventually work full-time.
Because of Mr. Duckett’s improved condition, as well as the importance to his rehabilitation of spending time with his parents, his last Disposition was liberalized to include indirectly supervised community access and 72-hour passes, up to 6 times per year in Southern and Southwestern Ontario, with a person approved by the person in charge. As such, it was recommended that all privileges and passes be granted in a gradual and incremental manner. Mr. Duckett exercised his privileges without incident.
Progress Since Last ORB Hearing
Mr. Duckett continued to reside on the treatment unit A2 under the care of Dr. Mokhber until October 9, 2024, when he was transferred to the Rehabilitation Readiness Unit (A1). His care was then assumed by Dr. J. Quinn and his senior resident, Dr. B. Robertson.
Early in the reporting period, Mr. Duckett’s mental status was fragile and unstable in part due to the stress related to the litigation, his father's physical health (Mr. Duckett Sr. suffered a heart attack the day before Mr. Duckett’s last ORB hearing) and the additional stressor of being the focus of an episode of a television show Fear Thy Neighbour. Symptoms included having a flat affect, with poor eye contact and being slightly avoidant. An increase in paranoia was observed. He was more seclusive, spending more time in his room.
An incident occurred on February 16, 2024, where staff observed Mr. Duckett glaring into the nursing station with a fixed stare for at least 20 minutes. The same night, Mr. Duckett disclosed having observed four faces staring at him when he was watching television. He thought they were reality-based and that they were laughing at him. With health teaching, Mr. Duckett came to understand that these feelings could be symptoms of his mental illness. His clozapine dose was increased.
Mr. Duckett's parents continued to actively support him following his transfer to the Southwest Centre and his parents have worked cooperatively with the treatment team on future plans and goals as well as increasing their understanding of Mr. Duckett’s mental illness. Mr. Duckett’s father completed the approved persons process, and his mother attended a peer support group for families involved in the forensic system.
Mr. Duckett and his family agree that returning to the Hamilton area would be triggering for him. All were agreed that a supported environment such as a group home would be a good interim step before potential future independent living. Although they were unsure as to whether they would want to live with him immediately, his parents were amenable to trialling extended passes within Ontario such as to Niagara Falls or Muskoka over the coming year, to allow the treatment team to assess Mr. Duckett’s ability to safely navigate outside of a structured hospital environment and, potentially the viability of living with his parents in the future.
Plans for the coming year include granting increased indirectly supervised passes into the community to test him with less supervision and, potentially, to place him in the community in a supervised living environment such as a group home where he can pursue vocational activities. It is hoped that he will continue to work with psychology for therapy related to his trauma history and cognitive testing will be redone. Occupational therapy assessments will be completed to assess his need for supports outside of the hospital.
Positions of the Parties
At the outset of the hearing, the parties were canvassed as to their without-prejudice recommendations to the Board. Ms. Zamprogna for the Hospital posited that Mr. Duckett be found to pose a significant threat to the safety of the public and that the necessary and appropriate disposition was a detention disposition on the same terms as were presently in place, with the addition of 7-day passes, accompanied, up to three times per year, and to live in the community in accommodation approved by the person in charge. While living in the community, Mr. Duckett should report not less than four times per month.
On behalf of Mr. Duckett, Mr. Read advised that Mr. Duckett accepted and endorsed the Hospital Report and its recommendations both as to the analysis of significant threat and the terms and conditions of the proposed Disposition.
Mr. Rows for the Attorney General advised that he agreed Mr. Duckett remained a significant threat and that he was generally supportive of a detention disposition but reserved the right to take a position on its terms pending hearing the evidence.
Evidence at the Hearing
The Board had available to it the information contained in the hearing documents, the Hospital Report dated November 20, 2024 and the oral evidence of Dr. Robertson, a resident in psychiatry completing 12 months on rotation in the forensic service as part of his fifth and final year of training. Dr. Robertson had seen Mr. Duckett on about 10 occasions for 30-60 minutes at a time, as well as interacting with him on other occasions, and was supervised by Dr. Quinn.
Dr. Robertson endorsed the contents of the Hospital Report and provided the Board with an overview of Mr. Duckett’s progress since his last annual review. Dr. Robertson advised that Mr. Duckett had had a good year overall, with excellent participation in psychotherapeutic initiatives, including trauma counseling, CBT and DBT and showing demonstrable improvements in his ability to deal with anxious thoughts. Since November 2024 he has been volunteering five days a week at Harvest Hands, which he enjoys. He participates in exercise programs at the YMCA and utilizes passes to go to church.
Mr. Duckett remains on clozapine and is adherent to the medication. However, as noted above, in December 2024 he experienced some increased suspiciousness and became increasingly watchful and ruminative. He was disorganized when planning for his passes and staff observed him to be more tense. Assessment revealed that notwithstanding taking clozapine as prescribed, his serum levels were below the intended therapeutic range due to a combination of exercise and the side effects of anti-constipation medications. Mr. Duckett’s residual symptoms abated soon after his clozapine dose was increased. He was amenable to the proposed increase. Dr. Robertson indicated that there will be further changes to optimize Mr. Duckett’s clozapine. Although within the structured setting of the A1 unit, Mr. Duckett willingly takes his medication, it remains to be seen whether he will do so when in a less structured environment.
Dr. Robertson noted that Mr. Duckett’s insight into his illness and need for medication diminished when his symptoms re-emerged, and he struggled to identify the changes within himself that signaled decompensation or pending decompensation in his mental state. However, his treatment team was on top of the situation and acted quickly to adjust his medication and to increase their engagement with him. Dr. Robertson indicated that Mr. Duckett’s tendency to lose insight when deteriorated warrants continued close monitoring given his history of refusing medication and minimizing or failing to disclose symptoms when he is less mentally well.
As for the issue of significant threat, Dr. Robertson opined that Mr. Duckett poses a low to moderate risk of violent reoffending while residing in a supervised setting such as the Hospital or approved accommodation, with the extrinsic support of a detention disposition. However, in the absence of forensic support and supervision, his risk would be high. Dr. Robertson observed that while Mr. Duckett had used alcohol and cannabis in the past, substance use was not implicated in the index offence. He has been abstinent from alcohol since 2019.
The Hospital Report describes the likely re-offence scenario in the following way:
Absent forensic support and supervision, Mr. Duckett would not be able to manage his illness and level of risk independently. Without adequate support, supervision and structure, and with environmental changes, he would be stressed and his symptoms of paranoia and delusions would exacerbate. His mental state would slowly decline, but his fear of victimization and suicidal tendencies would increase significantly. He would likely try to solve his fears independently, resulting in extreme violence or even death.
Mr. Duckett has a number of strengths, including his on-going close relationship with his parents, who remain supportive of him. Dr. Robertson described him as an empathic individual who expresses remorse about the index offence and who is highly motivated to participate in treatment. Living in the community in Elgin or Middlesex counties is a real likelihood over the coming year. The ability to approve Mr. Duckett’s housing is necessary to ensure adequate support and supervision, with any problems being identified and acted upon proactively. The treatment team is recommending an increase in his passes to allow him to spend more time with this family and assess his ability to remain safe in the community.
In questioning Dr. Robertson, Mr. Rows for the Attorney General explored the issue of Mr. Duckett’s tendency to control the number of staff he will meet with and to be less than forthcoming with his emotions and symptoms. Dr. Robertson agreed that Mr. Duckett might still be keeping some information back, but the team has been working with him to address this issue. This will continue to be closely monitored and if he is able to move to a group home, staff there would also be given training in detecting when Mr. Duckett is off his baseline. Dr. Robertson added that Mr. Duckett is starting to develop insight into the forensic system, and he has been less focused on the speed with which he wants to move through it.
Dr. Robertson reiterated that Mr. Duckett has been exercising all of his community access without difficulty, and that the Hospital has a close relationship with Harvest Hands and is confident they would report any concerns. The doctor conceded that lengthier passes, such as 7-day passes, carried with them the potential for increased risk. However, Mr. Duckett’s is appropriately treated and his parents are genuinely interested in wanting to learn more about their son’s illness. They have been very good at reporting any concerns as to Mr. Duckett’s symptoms or behaviours, including during the 72-hour passes of which there have now been four. In addition, they have to periodically call in with their itinerary and report as to the progress of the visit. Dr. Robertson advised that the treatment team would check his parents’ willingness to have Mr. Duckett with them and extensively review Mr. Duckett’s compliance with medication, stability and overall level of cooperativeness prior to granting extended passes.
Dr. Robertson indicated that even if Mr. Duckett were to stop taking his clozapine, the injectable anti-psychotic medication he takes (Abilify) would provide ample coverage while arrangements were made to bring him back to the Hospital for assessment. Dr. Robertson said that while Mr. Duckett would experience an increase in suspiciousness and persecutory thoughts in the absence of clozapine, any deterioration would take a while to develop to the level that engendered the index offence. The treatment team would take any non-compliance with medication very seriously.
Mr. Read for Mr. Duckett explored the situation that gave rise to an increase in Mr. Duckett’s clozapine dose in December 2024. Dr. Robertson explained that factors other than non-compliance (such as cigarette smoking) can affect an individual’s clozapine levels and that the treatment team did not suspect non-compliance as being responsible for Mr. Duckett’s low clozapine levels. Dr. Robertson confirmed that the increased dose appears to be having the desired effect and that Mr. Duckett’s overarching trajectory is positive and moving in the direction of good mental health. However, despite Mr. Duckett’s symptoms having improved greatly, stress could still bring about a transitory increase in symptoms of persecutory and delusional beliefs. Consequently, there remains room to optimize his medication in the future.
Dr. Robertson advised that returning to Hamilton would be triggering for Mr. Duckett, in part because he feels a lot of remorse in connection with his index offence, and also he worries about the potential (psychological) harm his presence there could bring to the community.
In response to questions from the Board, Dr. Robertson stated that Mr. Duckett remains in need of a reassessment as to his cognitive functioning as his WAIS score was profoundly low compared to his observed level of functioning. Stress would continue to be a concern and needed close monitoring. Fortunately, Mr. Duckett’s father seems to be doing well, and Mr. Duckett recently retained a lawyer to defend the civil suit which is helping him to not ruminate excessively about the situation. Dr. Robertson agreed that 7-day passes could allow potential gaps in compliance to go undetected for as long as a week, and that the team would be careful to grant privileges and passes slowly and incrementally. The doctor confirmed that currently there was no requirement that Mr. Duckett submit an itinerary prior to exercising passes but that this could readily be added as a condition.
Submissions
Ms. Zamprogna for the Hospital submitted that Mr. Duckett remained a significant threat to the safety of the public, noting that his illness symptoms had led to the most serious of index offences. Treatment optimization has been an ongoing process. With adjustments to his medication regimen and participation in programming, Mr. Duckett’s symptoms, ability to cope with stress and insight have improved. She noted that Mr. Duckett has been adherent to his medication regimen within the supervised setting of the hospital and used all of his privileges, including his 72-hour passes, appropriately. His risk to the safety of the public is low to moderate if managed in hospital or in supervised accommodation in the community.
Adding the privilege of living in the community this year and increasing his passes to three, 7 days passes per year, supervised at all times by an approved person will allow the treatment team to assess his ability to cope in less structured environments and further his rehabilitation. Ms. Zamprogna remined the Board that all privileges would be implemented cautiously and be predicated on Mr. Duckett’s mental status, adherence to medication and an approved itinerary.
A detention disposition was necessary to approve any proposed accommodation and to providing the authority to bring Mr. Duckett back to hospital quickly if necessary. She urged the Board to keep the reporting requirement as recommended by the Hospital (not less than four times per month when living in the community) to provide some measure of flexibility in the event of a long weekend or similar issue impacting on staff/physician availability. Finally, Ms. Zamprogna submitted that any access by Mr. Duckett to the communities of Southern and Southwestern Ontario or the province of Ontario should exclude the City of Hamilton, except for through transit.
Mr. Rows, for the Attorney General advised that he concurred with the Hospital’s position as to significant threat and a detention disposition. However, he was opposed to any significant expansion of Mr. Duckett’s privileges, including non-time limited indirectly supervised passes, on the basis that there is very little in the way of a successful track record to justify doing so. In the event the Board granted the privileges requested by the Hospital, Mr. Rows supported a term prohibiting Mr. Duckett from entering the City of Hamilton to protect those impacted by his index offence.
Mr. Read endorsed the Hospital’s submissions in their entirety and suggested that any term requiring Mr. Duckett keep away from Hamilton could be phrased to allow him to travel through it in a continuous course of travel – such as along Highways 401 or 403.
Analysis and Conclusions
Having heard and considered all of the evidence and submissions from the parties, the Board agrees with the joint position that Mr. Duckett poses a significant threat to the safety of the public. However, apart from the joint submission, the Board has no difficulty coming to an independent conclusion that Mr. Duckett’s current constellation of symptoms and behaviours supports a finding that he continues to pose a significant threat.
In this regard, Mr. Duckett’s risk flows from his major mental illness, Schizophrenia – paranoid type – which carries with it symptoms of paranoid and persecutory ideation, under the influence of which he carried out a very serious, criminal and violent offence resulting in the death of victim and incalculable loss to the victim’s family. Despite treatment with antipsychotic medication, Mr. Duckett continues to demonstrate residual symptoms of psychosis and in particular, paranoid and persecutory ideation similar to that which gave rise to the index offence, albeit attenuated. He has a tendency to be less than forthcoming with respect to disclosing his symptoms to his treatment team, particularly when experiencing symptoms of psychosis. He remains stress-vulnerable and has difficulty recognizing certain thoughts as not being reality-based. His insight into his index offence, mental illness and need for medication, while improved, is not yet robust. The Board adopts in their entirety the risk assessments set out a pp 33-38 of the Hospital Report and finds that Mr. Duckett poses a significant threat to the safety of the public.
The Board notes that within the structured and supportive environment setting of a forensic rehabilitation unit, Mr. Duckett has made good progress. He is remorseful about the harm his index offence caused. He is compliant with his medication regimen and cooperative with recommended changes. He has not presented any behaviour management difficulties and exercises his privileges appropriately. He has enveloped himself with psychotherapeutic programming and has consistently demonstrated a high degree of engagement in his treatment plan. He has remained abstinent from substances. He maintains a good relationship with his parents and continues to benefit from their support.
Turning now to determining the necessary and appropriate disposition, the Board finds based on the evidence and submissions before it that a detention disposition is the appropriate means by which to manage Mr. Duckett’s risk and his care. Although his ability to cope with stress has improved, he remains stress-vulnerable and ongoing stressors, such as litigation in connection with the index offence, continue to impact him and likely will for the foreseeable future. His medication is not yet optimized and will require further adjustment, with uncertain effect.
The Board is persuaded by the able submissions of Ms. Zamprogna and Mr. Read that Mr. Duckett ought to be granted the privilege of living in the community. All indicators point to Mr. Duckett being able to live safely in an appropriately-supportive setting, such as a group home. As plans progress to transition Mr. Duckett to the community, it is necessary that the Hospital have the ability approve his accommodation to ensure that the necessary supports are in place and that the proposed environment is suitable. The Board is aware that there are waitlists for group homes, and there are a number of steps Mr. Duckett needs to complete prior to being discharged to the community. The Board is optimistic that given the high degree of Mr. Duckett’s cooperation and engagement in his treatment plan, he will continue to make progress over the coming year.
Additionally, since Mr. Duckett is as yet untested in an unstructured environment, the Hospital must retain the ability to return him quickly to hospital in the event of decompensation or threatened decompensation. The Mental Health Act, which is retrospective in nature, is insufficient to effectively accomplish this in a timely fashion, The Board is confident that the Hospital will take a measured, step-wise approach to liberalizing Mr. Duckett’s privileges and to ensure the safety of the public. However, the Board believes it is appropriate for Mr. Duckett to develop and commit to an approved itinerary as a means of providing extrinsic support for the safe exercise of privileges to the community and so that the treatment team can closely monitor his activities.
The Board agrees that it is appropriate to restrict Mr. Duckett’s access to the City of Hamilton. It was evident to the Board that the victim’s family continues to struggle with the enormity of the loss that has befallen them. They should be able to freely go about their business without having to worry they will have contact with Mr. Duckett. An exception to the geographic restriction is granted to permit Mr. Duckett transit through Hamilton.
As to the longer passes of up to seven days, up to three times a year, the Board notes with approval the progress Mr. Duckett’s parents have made in learning about their son’s illness and their high degree of cooperation with the treatment team, including reporting any concerns as to Mr. Duckett’s mental status during time spent with them. The Board finds that Mr. Duckett’s re-integration and other needs will best be met by permitting him the privilege of spending longer periods of time in the community with his parents. The progress of such visits will inform the team as to Mr. Duckett’s ability to safely navigate longer periods of unstructured time in the community and assist his parents and himself in determining whether someday returning to live with them is a viable option.
The Board would prefer that when living in the community, Mr. Duckett report not less than once every seven days as opposed to not less than four times per month. This will allow the Hospital to retain tighter control over Mr. Duckett’s mental status and overall progress when living in the community. This will be important to assessing his ongoing suitability to reside outside the Hospital.
Lastly, the Board amends the no-contact provision contained in last year’s Disposition to include Christopher Pona, whose last name was previously unknown.
In arriving at our Disposition, the Board has considered the paramount factor of the safety of the public, Mr. Duckett’s community reintegration, his mental condition and his other needs, all as required by s. 672.54 of the Criminal Code
DATED this 31^st^ day of March 2025, at the City of Toronto, in the Region of Toronto.
Ms. T. Mann Alternate Chairperson Office of the Registrar Ontario Review Board