Re: Wesley Shortt
ORB File No: 4723
Hearing held on: Thursday, July 24, 2025
Place of hearing: St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton West 5th Campus, 100 West 5th Street
Pursuant to: Section 672.81(2.1) of the Criminal Code
Before:
Alternate Chairperson: Ms. T. Mann
Members: Dr. A. Park Dr. G. Kerry Mr. D. D’Intino Ms. C. Plyley
Parties Appearing:
Accused: Wesley Shortt Counsel: Mr. J. Marshman
The Person in Charge of Hospital: Counsel: Ms. L. Barney
Attorney General of Ontario: Counsel: Ms. J. McKenzie
REASONS FOR DECISION
(Dated September 8, 2025)
Introduction
On March 7, 2007, Wesley Shortt, was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder (“NCR”), on charges of Uttering Threat and Breach of Probation Order, contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada (“Criminal Code”). Mr. Shortt is currently subject to a Disposition of the Ontario Review Board (“ORB” or “Board”) dated December 24, 2024, which detains him at the Forensic Psychiatry Program of St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton (“SJHH” or the “Hospital”) with privileges up to residing in the community of Southern Ontario in approved accommodation.
On July 2, 2025, the Hospital provided notice to the ORB that on June 23, 2025, Mr. Shortt had been readmitted to the Hospital from his residence in the community.
On July 24, 2025, the Board convened a hearing to review the increased restrictions of Mr. Shortt’s liberties on June 23, 2025 pursuant to s. 672.81(2.1) of the Criminal Code. Mr. Shortt was not in attendance at the hearing but was represented by counsel, Mr. J. Marshman, who asked for an order excusing Mr. Shortt from attending, which was granted. The Board had earlier made an order appointing Mr. Marshman as counsel for Mr. Shortt.
Of note, an ROL hearing was held on April 8, 2025, which was convened following Mr. Shortt having been readmitted to hospital from his residence in the community on March 5, 2025. By way of Decision dated April 15, 2025, the Board concluded that the decision of the Hospital to significantly increase the restrictions on Mr. Shortt’s liberty from March 5, 2025, to March 18, 2025, was necessary and appropriate. Further, the Board found that no change to the existing disposition dated December 24, 2024, was warranted.
Positions of the Parties
- At the outset of the hearing, the parties were canvassed as to their initial without prejudice recommendations to the Board. Ms. Barney advised the Hospital’s position was that Mr. Shortt’s readmission to hospital from the community on June 23, 2025 was necessary and appropriate from the time it began until it ended on July 25, 2025. Ms. McKenzie advised that the Attorney General concurred with the Hospital. Mr. Marshman indicated he had received instructions from Mr. Shortt to support the Hospital’s recommendation. As such, the Board had before it a joint submission. All parties maintained their respective positions in closing submissions and confirmed that there was no need to review the terms of Mr. Shortt’s existing disposition.
Index Offence
- The Index Offences are more fully set out in the Reasons for Disposition dated January 7, 2025. For the purposes of this hearing, they are summarized as follows:
On the l0th of November, 2006 at approximately 1: 00 pm, the accused Wesley Shortt was in his bedroom at 60 Fife Rd. #307, Guelph and was yelling, screaming and carrying on banging on the walls. His father went into the room and spoke to him and told him to stop the yelling and screaming and to take his medication as it would make him feel better. This upset Wesley a great deal, he refused to take the medication and told him to “Fuck off and get the hell out of my room or I will kill you”. He followed his father out into the living room of the apartment and continued to scream and berate him threatening to kill him. Wesley’s father was upset so he left the apartment to calm down and while he was gone Wesley told his sister and his mother that when his father came back and if he asked him to take his medication he was going to force him on the ground and then take a knife which was on the counter and stab him as hard as he could in his face and chest until he was “Puking up blood”. Wesley’s father Timothy Shortt was extremely disturbed by this and frightened and due to Wesley’s enraged mental state he was inclined to take him very seriously. Police were called, attended and as a result of the threats Wesley was arrested, cautioned and advised of his Rights to Counsel. It was further learned that the accused was also on Probation. He is bound by a Probation Order entered into on July 12th, 2006 made by the Ontario Court of Justice – Guelph with a condition to keep the peace and be of good behaviour. This was breached by committing the offence of Utter Threats. He was further charged with Breach of Probation. He was transported to the Police Station and at that time he was processed and lodged in the cells pending a Bail Hearing.
- The incident that gave rise to the Probation Order under which Mr. Shortt was bound at the time of the Index Offence is summarized as follows:
It is alleged that on April 23, 2006 at approximately 4:15 pm, the accused approached the victim (name of victim) and for no apparent reason punched him on the left side of the face and then proceeded to punch the victim several times in the arms. This alleged assault left the victim with swelling to the left side of his face around his left eye, and a scratch on his upper chest near his neck. While the assault was taking place, the victim did not retaliate, however he was simply trying to cover his face.
On May 5, 2006, Police attended to the Homewood and located the accused. At approximately 1:30 pm the accused was placed under arrest for Assault contrary to Section 266 of the Criminal Code, was cautioned and given his rights to counsel.
In addition to the above assault charge on the co-patient, records indicate that Mr. Shortt was charged with a second assault on this same co-patient stemming from an incident that took place on June 8, 2006, also at the Homewood Hospital, and is described in the Crown Brief synopsis as follows:
The victim (name of victim) and the accused, Wesley Shortt (80JUN09) are both residents of the Homewood Health Care Centre located at 150 Delhi Street in the City of Guelph. The victim has fetal alcohol syndrome and is presently nonverbal.
On June 8, 2006 at 8:50 PM (name of RN) was working in the nursing station in the Trillium Health Care Centre. At this time the victim was standing at one of the doors looking inside the station as he does often. At 8:50 PM, the accused exited the washroom across the hallway from the station and unprovoked, charged across the hallway and body checked the victim causing him to crash into the wall and fall to the floor. The victim suffered minor scrapes as a result of this assault.
Evidence at Hearing
The Board had available to it information in the form of the documents comprising the Record, as well as the Hospital Report dated November 14, 2024 (Exhibit 1), and the Restriction of Liberty Report (“ROL Report”) dated July 16, 2025 (Exhibit 2).
The Hospital Report provides a great deal of information concerning Mr. Shortt’s personal history, mental health history, course in hospital and in the community subsequent to the date he was found NCR. As the Hospital Report was made an exhibit in the hearing, it is not necessary to reproduce the information contained within it fully in these Reasons.
In addition to the documentary evidence, the Board also heard oral evidence from Mr. Shortt’s attending forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Y. Alatishe. Dr. Alatishe endorsed the contents of the ROL Report as well as the contents of the Hospital Report.
Briefly, by way of background and for context in the making of the panel’s decision, the Hospital Report notes that Mr. Shortt’s aggression began at an early age, increasing in frequency and intensity as he grew older. He has a lengthy history of being brought to hospital by police as a result of his aggressive behaviours. Mr. Shortt currently carries diagnoses of Schizophrenia and Intellectual Disability.
Mr. Shortt is now 45 years old and has been under the authority of a detention order since entering the forensic system in 2007. He was discharged into the community of Hamilton on February 28, 2022. Since that time, Mr. Shortt has required readmission to hospital on six occasions.
Pursuant to the current detention disposition, Mr. Shortt resides in a two-bedroom apartment in Hamilton which has been specifically modified for his physical needs. It is administered by Choices Association (“Choices”). Within the unit, the Choices housing staff occupy the second bedroom as their office so that Mr. Shortt has 24/7 supervision in his accommodation. Mr. Shortt’s physical needs are such that he needs prompting for toileting, showering and for maintaining personal hygiene. Additionally, Choices staff supervise the administration of Mr. Shortt’s medications, which are numerous.
In his evidence, Dr. Alatishe provided a brief oral summary of the facts and circumstances giving rise to Mr. Shortt’s readmission to Hospital, as follows:
Over the weekend of June 21-June 22, 2025, Choices staff left a number of voicemail messages for the Outpatient team that Mr. Short was becoming resistive to taking his medications. It was also reported that Mr. Shortt had engaged in a verbal argument with staff after he attempted to leave his apartment in the middle of the night for “fresh air”. Mr. Shortt is a heavy smoker and often seeks to go outside to smoke. When staff did not permit him to do so, he became verbally agitated and aggressive with them.
On the morning of June 23, 2025, after receiving the voicemail messages, Forensic Outpatient Program staff spoke to Mr. Shortt by telephone about these concerns. FOP staff felt that Mr. Shortt sounded off his psychiatric baseline and needed to be assessed. FOP staff then attended Mr. Shortt’s residence and assisted him to return to hospital for urgent assessment by Dr. Alatishe.
Dr. Alatishe met with Mr. Shortt and observed that Mr. Shortt appeared flushed, was breathing heavily and somewhat unsteady on his feet. Cognitively, he was confused and disorganized. His eyes were closed, and he was making odd high-pitched noises. He told Dr. Alatishe that he felt good. When Dr. Alatishe asked Mr. Shortt questions about his physical health, Mr. Shortt became querulous and raised his voice. Dr. Alatishe decided to admit Mr. Shortt for closer observation and a medical workup as he did not look medically or psychiatrically well. Mr. Shortt was accepting of this decision and apologized to Dr. Alatishe for raising his voice.
Shortly after being admitted to the Waterfall 3 unit (as there were no beds available on the less restrictive Orchard 3 unit), Mr. Shortt’s condition deteriorated precipitously. He rapidly became hypoxic and dyspneic. He demonstrated obvious signs of respiratory distress. He was promptly transferred to SJHH Charleton Campus for stabilization and further investigation. Shortly thereafter, he was admitted to the ICU for respiratory failure/hypoventilation syndrome.
Mr. Shortt responded well to treatment with BiPAP, a course of steroids and an optimized dose of his “puffers”. Mr. Shortt was medically cleared to go back to the West 5th Campus on July 1, 2025, where he settled without difficulty. His physical condition was much improved, but he was not yet at his psychiatric baseline. However, within a few days, Mr. Shortt began ambulating on his own. Over the next several days, he progressed to exercising his privileges appropriately and without physical or mental decompensation. He resumed his heavy smoking habit.
Mr. Shortt was discharged back to his apartment on July 15, 2025, after having returned to his psychiatric and physical baseline. There have been no further issues since that time. He is now taking his medications and complying with staff direction.
Dr. Alatishe noted that Mr. Shortt is a large person who likely was affected by this summer’s extreme heat, leading to him asking to go outside to smoke more often. A behaviour plan is in place to address this issue. Since his discharge from hospital on July 15th, he has not been asking to go outside to smoke in the middle of the night.
Mr. Shortt is regularly seen by Outpatient staff twice a week and he will be seen more often for awhile to ensure he continues to do well. Next steps include encouraging Mr. Shortt to use his CPAP machine to address his sleep apnea and to closely monitor his breathing and oxygen levels by means of spirometry. An updated sleep study may be in order.
In response to questions from the panel, Dr. Alatishe advised that there is a crisis plan in place wherein Choices staff are to call the Orchard 3 unit should after-hours concerns regarding Mr. Shortt arise. On this occasion, Choices staff did not follow the plan nor did they appreciate the potential seriousness of the decline in Mr. Shortt’s condition. Dr. Alatishe hastened to add that Choices staff are not nurses and do their best to help manage Mr. Shortt’s physical needs. A team meeting including Choices staff was held to review the situation and to provide health teaching and support around the issue of adherence to the after-hours protocol that is in place.
Dr. Alatishe was also questioned as to whether the decision to re-admit Mr. Shortt to hospital was driven by the decline in Mr. Shortt’s physical health – in which case there would not have been a true restriction of his liberty norm – or mental health concerns. Dr. Alatishe maintained that Mr. Shortt was admitted due to the deterioration of his mental state and the potential for further decline. Dr. Alatishe said that even he was surprised at the precipitous collapse of Mr. Shortt’s physical health.
The doctor emphasized that admitting Mr. Shortt for physical health issues alone would have been very challenging because he does not typically look after his physical health. A similar situation with Mr. Shortt’s oxygen saturation levels occurred a few months ago and he was so resistive to being assessed that the Outpatient case manager was reduced to pleading with him and threatening to call 911 before he would agree.
Mr. Shortt’s liberty was restricted from June 23, 2025, to July 15, 2025, a period of 22 days. It was the clinical team’s unanimous opinion that the increased restrictions to Mr. Shortt’s liberty were necessary and appropriate to manage his risk to the safety of the public.
Findings of the Board
Having heard and considered all of the evidence and the submissions of the parties, the Board finds that there was a significant increase in the restrictions on Mr. Shortt’s liberty from June 23 to July 15, 2025. Further, the Board finds that this significant increase was warranted when it began and to the date it concluded.
The uncontradicted evidence contained in the ROL Report, along with the oral evidence of Dr. Alatishe, provides ample grounds in support of the Hospital’s actions in readmitting Mr. Shortt to hospital from his apartment. The Board accepts and relies upon this evidence in its entirety.
In coming to its decision, the Board is cognizant of Mr. Shortt’s lengthy history of aggression directed at caregivers and that as recently as March 2025, he acted toward a Choices staff member with behaviour similar to that in which he engaged at the time of the Index Offences.
We note, here, that in the current instance, Mr. Shortt was involved in a verbal argument with staff after he attempted to leave the residence in the middle of the night. When he was not permitted to do so, he became verbally agitated and aggressive with staff. Mr. Shortt has difficulty recognizing when he is becoming physically unwell and at these times, he can be resistive and argumentative, quickly escalating to threatening and intimidating behaviour.
The totality of the evidence supports a finding that Mr. Shortt’s psychiatric wellness goes hand-in-hand with his physical wellness. Given his physical and mental health were deteriorating, it was entirely appropriate for the Hospital to readmit Mr. Shortt to prevent his behaviour from deteriorating apace with his physical and mental health.
Indeed, for these reasons, the Board agrees with the parties that the Hospital’s decision to significantly increase the restrictions on Mr. Shortt’s liberty, occasioned by his readmission to hospital on June 23, 2025, was eminently reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances and represented the least onerous and least restrictive option to manage both his risk to public safety and his care.
DATED this 8th day of September 2025, at the City of Toronto, in the Toronto Region.
Ms. T. Mann Alternate Chairperson
Office of the Registrar Ontario Review Board