Ontario Review Board
Re: Isaac Martin
ORB File No: 8455
Hearing held on: Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Place of Hearing: Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care
Pursuant to: Section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code
Before:
Alternate Chairperson: Mr. R. Bigelow
Members: Ms. S. Clapp
Dr. S. Swaminath
Dr. M. Green
Ms. C. Plyley
Parties Appearing:
Accused: Isaac Martin
Counsel: Mr. S. Gehl
The Person in Charge Counsel: Ms. J. Zamprogna
Attorney-General of Ontario: Counsel: Mr. D. Rows
REASONS FOR DISPOSITION
(Dated April 29, 2025)
Introduction
On January 9, 2024, Isaac Martin was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder (NCR) on a charge of first-degree murder contrary to the Criminal Code. He is currently subject to a disposition of the Ontario Review Board (the Board) dated April 29, 2024 ordering his detention at the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care (the Hospital) with privileges up to and including entering the communities of Elgin and Middlesex Counties indirectly supervised and entering the community of Southwestern Ontario accompanied by staff or a person or delegate approved by the person in charge.
On Wednesday April 9, 2025, the Board convened a hearing to review Mr. Martin’s disposition pursuant to section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code. The issues to be determined at the hearing were whether Mr. Martin continued to constitute a significant threat to the safety of the public as defined in section 672.5401 of the Criminal Code and, if so, to determine the necessary and appropriate disposition that was also the least onerous and least restrictive taking into account the factors set out in section 672.54 of the Criminal Code.
Initial Positions of the Parties
At the commencement of the hearing the parties were requested to provide their initial without prejudice positions with respect to the issues before the Board. Counsel for the Hospital indicated that it was the Hospital’s position that Mr. Martin continued to represent a significant threat to the safety of the public and that the necessary and appropriate disposition was a continuation of the current detention order with the additional privileges of accompanied passes for up to two weeks in Southwestern Ontario and Grey County with an approved person, indirectly supervised passes into Southwestern Ontario and Grey County, and residence in the communities of Elgin and Middlesex Counties in supervised accommodation approved by the person in charge.
Counsel for the Hospital advised that the rationale behind recommending both indirectly supervised passes into Southwestern Ontario and Grey County as well as accompanied passes for up to two weeks in those areas was to allow for Mr. Martin to return to his community, the David Martin Orthodox Mennonite community, but not be under the direct supervision of the approved person 24 hours per day. It was anticipated that, should he receive those passes, he would spend time within the community under the supervision of members of the community other than his father, the expected approved person, particularly while working, but that he would continually be under the supervision of members of the community.
Both counsel for the Attorney General and Counsel for Mr. Martin supported the Hospital recommendation.
Evidence at the hearing
- The evidence at the hearing consisted of the Hospital Report dated March 6, 2025, the NCR Report dated June 13, 2023, and the oral evidence of Dr. J. Quinn, Mr. Martin’s treating psychiatrist.
Findings:
- For the Reasons that follow, the Board finds that Mr. Martin continues to represent a significant threat to the safety of the public and that the necessary and appropriate disposition is a continuation of the current detention order with the changes to the terms jointly recommended by the parties.
Index Offence
- The circumstances surrounding the index offence as summarized in last year’s Reasons for Disposition are as follows:
On September 18, 2021, Mr. Martin was in the family home with his wife Ina Martin and their son Mahlon. He told his wife that he wanted to take their son outside so she gave him some cookies to give Mahlon in case he became fussy while they were outside. Mr. Martin took Mahlon and left to go outside. Shortly after, Mrs. Martin heard strange thumping noises in the house and went to investigate. She went into the basement and observed Mahlon lying on the ground with Mr. Martin standing over him. She observed Mr. Martin strike Mahlon in the head two times with an axe.
The residence is a shared building with Mr. Martin and his wife living on one side while Norman and Ina Bauman live in a separate adjoining portion of the residence. It was noted hat Mrs. Martin immediately called 9-1-1 (at 9:00 a.m.) and Mr. Martin left the residence through a basement door. Mr. Bauman was in his shop on the property when he received a phone call from his wife at 9:05 a.m. asking him to come to the house. Mr. Bauman came over to see what was going on and found Mr. Martin hooking up a horse to a buggy in front of a barn on the property.
It was noted that Mr. Bauman spoke to Mr. Martin who stated, "do you know why I did this? My wife was interested in someone. Now the child can live in eternity."
It was noted that while Mr. Bauman was with Mr. Martin, Mrs. Martin remained on the phone with dispatchers and took the axe and put it under the bed in her room because she was afraid he might come back for it. It was noted that Cst. STINSON was the first responding officer, arriving on the scene at 9:08 a.m. Cst. STINSON went directly to the basement to check on Mahlon and observed him to be obviously deceased, with his forehead split open and pieces of brain matter, flesh and blood scattered about the room. Cst. STINSON briefly spoke to Mrs. Martin and learned that she had observed her husband hitting Mahlon in the head with an axe. Cst. STINSON advised dispatch of the grounds to arrest Mr. Martin.
It was noted that Cst. BREMNER was the second officer on the scene and dealt with Mr. Martin and Mr. Bauman out near a barn on the property. Cst. BREMNER placed Mr. Martin under arrest at 9:11 a.m. He was handcuffed and placed in the rear seat of Cst. BREMNER's marked cruiser. Cst. BREMNER then read the Right to Counsel and Criminal Caution to Mr. Martin.
It was noted that Mr. Martin “refused to answer verbally but nodded his head ‘yes’ when asked if he understood.”
It was noted that Cst. BREMNER transported Mr. Martin to Central Division and a call was placed to Counsel Scott Grainger at 10:01 a.m. It was noted that Mr. Martin spoke with Mr. Grainger over the phone at 11:13 a.m.
It was noted that D/Cst. Andrew KROETSCH conducted a video-recorded interview with Mr. Martin after he had spoken with counsel. It was opined that during this interview, Mr. Martin provided an inculpatory statement where he admitted to striking Mahlon in the head numerous times with an axe.
It was noted that Mr. Martin stated that he was in love with someone other than his wife and his wife was also attracted to another man and he had received a message from God to murder his son. He stated that he did not know what to do with the baby if he and his wife were to “make friends” with someone else. Mr. Martin expressed regret for killing his child and said that he didn't know what came across him.
It was noted that Mr. Martin also advised that he is currently taking prescription medication for his heart and to help him sleep and that he does not drink alcohol or use drugs.
Background Information Regarding the Accused
Mr. Martin was born in the Kitchener – Waterloo area third in a subline of nine. He was raised in a Mennonite community and after completing grade eight left school as is customary in his community and entered the workforce joining his father and grandfather in a sheet-metal workshop. He subsequently found employment working on farms, doing machine printing, beekeeping and woodworking.
He married in September 2018 and resided together with his spouse in a rented home until the date of the index offence. The couple had one child who was the one-year-old victim of the index offence. There were no reports of violence or abuse within the home.
Substance Use History
- Mr. Martin describes drinking a “tiny cup” of alcohol at weddings and denied any regular alcohol use. He also denied a history of using opiates, methamphetamines or cannabis.
Legal History
- Mr. Martin has no prior involvement in the criminal justice system.
Psychiatric History
Mr. Martin first began to have difficulties with his mental health after his grandfather passed away in 2010. He started to see a psychiatrist in the community in 2010 and was prescribed medications for his mental health. His first hospitalization with respect to mental health related issues was in February 2011 when he attended at a hospital emergency department claiming that he had forced his sister to have sex, and she became pregnant. He was noted to be quite disorganized, disheveled and slightly incoherent. With treatment his symptoms abated and he was discharged from hospital after two weeks with a diagnosis of Schizophreniform Disorder (Provisional), with good prognostic features.
In August 2018 Mr. Martin was brought to hospital by his parents because he was making threats to them and chased a worker at the farm. Upon admission it was noted that he seemed to be preoccupied, was not following what was being said to him and his thought patterns seemed to be bizarre. With treatment he improved and was discharged with a diagnosis of bipolar affective disorder.
Over the next several years Mr. Martin continued to see a psychiatrist and was compliant with medication however, his medication dosage was reduced on several occasions due to complaints with respect to side effects.
On September 14 and 16, 2021, in the days prior to the index offence, Mr. Martin presented at hospital with complaints with respect to insomnia. It was believed that Mr. Martin had bipolar disorder and that he was currently having insomnia secondary to racing thoughts but was not in a manic phase. An increase in antipsychotic medication was suggested.
Current Diagnosis
- Mr. Martin’s current diagnosis is bipolar disorder with psychotic features (rule out schizoaffective disorder).
Evidence of Dr. Quinn
Dr. Quinn indicated he had been Mr. Martin’s attending psychiatrist since December 2024 and had read and adopted the contents of the Hospital report. Mr. Martin had a relatively stable year and did not display any overt signs of his mood disorder. The treatment team believed that there was potential for cognitive issues connected to bipolar disorder developing and that he had been referred for a cognitive assessment.
Dr. Quinn indicated that relapse statistics for individuals with bipolar disorder were high even when adherent to medications. Mr. Martin displayed some insight into his illness however his insight fluctuates. The treatment team continues to work on optimizing his medications to reduce side effects without compromising its effectiveness in treating his illness.
Dr. Quinn indicated that Mr. Martin had been involved in numerous programs over the reporting year and was continuing to be involved in programming. He adopted the conclusions of the HCR 20 set out in the Hospital Report and also reasons set out at page 37 of the Report for concluding that there was a risk of serious physical or psychological harm to members of the public.
Dr. Quinn stated that a detention order was the necessary disposition to manage risk and that the provisions of the Mental Health Act would be insufficient to manage risk as shown by the attendances at hospital in the days leading up to the index offence.
Until shortly before the hearing there had been very limited communication between the Hospital and Mr. Martin’s community. However, in the last month Mr. Martin’s wife consented to communicate with him in writing and family members have attended and met with Hospital staff. Mr. Martin’s father has indicated that he was open to discussions with respect to becoming an approved person which would allow for Mr. Martin to visit his community. The process of re-acceptance into the community requires that Mr. Martin demonstrate his desire to return to the community and the community must unanimously decide to reaccept him. Access to the community would be of significant assistance in achieving his goal of re-acceptance. Mr. Martin’s father has a brother who lives in another Mennonite community in Dundalk Ontario which is believed to be in Grey County and the ability to visit him could be of assistance in Mr. Martin’s reintegration.
In response to questions from counsel for Mr. Martin Dr. Quinn agreed that Mr. Martin’s family had historically taken his mental health seriously and taken steps to get treatment for his illness in the years leading up to the index offence and there was no reason to believe that this would not occur in the future should Mr. Martin return to his community.
In response to questions from the panel, Dr. Quinn stated that the treatment team is working toward Mr. Martin returning to his home community, however consent needs to be obtained from his community and his wife before that could happen, and a lot of other pieces need to fall into place for that to be successful. As such, it is not realistic that Mr. Martin would be discharged to live in his remote home community near Kitchener-Waterloo in the coming year. However, if that plan does not work out, the “Plan B” is for Mr. Martin to take the more typical course and be discharged to a supervised group home near the Hospital. That is why the Hospital is requesting the addition of the community living provision in Elgin and Middlesex counties only for this year.
Analysis and Conclusion, Significant Threat:
Although the issue of significant threat was not contested at the hearing, the Board nevertheless makes an independent finding that Mr. Martin does represent a significant threat to the safety of the public. Mr. Martin suffers from a longstanding major mental illness, bipolar disorder with psychotic features, which has a high rate of relapse even when medication adherent and although he is not currently displaying any positive symptoms of that illness, he has remained in highly supervised environments continuously since the date of the index offence. He has not been tested in the community. He currently has no place to live and has no experience living in the community outside of the David Martin Orthodox Mennonite community where he was born, raised and resided up to the time of the index offence. It is currently unknown whether he will be accepted back into that community, or the impact of stressors involved in returning either to that community or another.
At the time of the index offence, Mr. Martin was experiencing command hallucinations resulting in his acting out in the most severe type of violence resulting in the death of his child. His insight into the need for treatment has yet to be fully developed and improved insight into his need for long-term treatment is necessary prior to transitioning into a less supervised environment. Absent the supervision of the Board at this time, Mr. Martin would enter the community with no supports and there would be a substantial possibility of a return of the symptoms he was experiencing at the time of the index offence creating a significant risk of harm to the public.
Analysis and Conclusion, Necessary and Appropriate Disposition:
The Board finds that the evidence also amply supports the joint submission that the necessary and appropriate disposition is a continuation of the current detention order with the additional terms and conditions as recommended by the Hospital and supported by the other parties. Mr. Martin currently has no residence available to him in the community and a discharge into any place other than his home community would place him in a world he has never lived in. Given the high level of violence displayed in the index offence a gradual increase in access to the community closely supervised is necessary to manage risk. In addition, the Mental Health Act has previously been shown to be ineffective in managing risk.
The current disposition allows for a gradual increase in freedom while also managing risk to the community.
DATED this 29^th^ day of April 2025, at the City of Toronto, in the Toronto Region.
Robert Bigelow
Alternate Chairperson
____________________________
Office of the Registrar
Ontario Review Board