Re: Suzan Kildi, 2025 CanLII 92524

Ontario Review Board

Re: Suzan Kildi

ORB File No: 8562

Hearing held on: Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Place of Hearing: Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre

Pursuant to: Section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code

Before:

Alternate Chairperson: Ms. M. Labrosse

Members: Dr. W. Komer Dr. R. Cormier Mr. D. Sandor Ms. K. Brisson

Parties Appearing:

Accused: Suzan Kildi Counsel: Ms. L. Konarowski

Person in charge of the hospital: Representative Dr. J. Hwang

Attorney-General of Ontario: Counsel: Ms. M. Dufort and Ms. E. Davies

REASONS FOR DISPOSITION

(Dated September 12, 2025)

Introduction

1. On May 15, 2024, the accused, Suzan Kildi, was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder on charges of aggravated assault, assault with a weapon or imitation weapon and possession of a weapon for a purpose dangerous to the public peace, all contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada.

2. Ms. Kildi is currently subject to a disposition of the Ontario Review Board dated October 8, 2024, which detains her at the secure forensic unit of the hospital with privileges up to and including to community living in approved accommodation.

3. On July 15, 2025, the Ontario Review Board convened at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, hereinafter referred to as the hospital, to conduct the review of Ms. Kildi’s disposition pursuant to s. 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code. Ms. Kildi attended her hearing and was represented by her counsel, Ms. Lauren Konarowski. Also in attendance was Ms. Kildi’s Case Manager, Meaghan Hartley. A hospital report dated June 23, 2025, was entered as Exhibit No. 1.

4. The issues for this hearing are whether Ms. Kildi continues to represent a significant threat to the safety of the public and, if so, to determine the disposition that is necessary and appropriate in the circumstances.

5. For the reasons set out below, the Board finds that Ms. Kildi continues to pose a significant threat to the safety of the public but that a conditional discharge is now adequate to manage that risk, the details of which shall be listed in the Analysis and Conclusion section of these Reasons.

Index Offences

6. The circumstances of the index offences have been extracted from the hospital report and are summarized as follows:

“December 30, 2022

On the 30th of December 2020 in the City of Ottawa the accused Suzan KILDI was in the washroom on the 3rd floor of the Shepherd's of Good Hope located at 256 King Edward Ave.

The victim, Jean Christophe RENAUD attended the washroom at approximately 1433hrs. The door to the washroom was left open. A short time later an arm is seen

reaching up to undo the mechanism that keeps the door open. The arm can be seen

with a hint of a long sleeve sweater. The door closes.

RENAUD uses the washroom and when he exits the stall he observes the accused in the washroom. He turned to wash his hands and before he can wash his hands the accused comes up behind him and states, "I'm Sorry" and he gets "punched" on the right side of his neck. He turns around and starts struggling with the accused. He observes a knife in her hand and when they fall to the ground, he observes that blood is dripping from his neck area.

RENAUD and the accused continue to struggle, and RENAUD is trying to get the knife away from the accused. At this time he starts screaming for help. A staff member comes into the washroom but ends up leaving as they are fighting over the knife. The struggle continues over the knife and changes hands a couple of times. RENAUD is fearful that he is getting dizzy and felt that if he passed out then the accused would kill him.

RENAUD punched the accused and tried to hit her head on the floor. His intention was to get her to pass out.

They continued to struggle over the knife and after RENAUD got the knife, the accused appeared nervous to him and stated, "but you wanted this". RENAUD stated that he stabbed her in the back of the neck and possibly the face and front of the neck. He then ran out of the washroom looking for help.

The accused then left the washroom and was walking around in the hallway and appeared to be unaffected by the injuries she received, and she eventually went into one of the rooms and closed the door.

The accused was transported to the hospital where she received surgery for her injuries.

Background History

7. Ms. Kildi’s personal history is set out in detail in the hospital report (Exhibit No. 1). Briefly summarized, Ms. Kildi is currently 32 years old and was born in Ottawa. Her parents are both from Turkey and came to Canada in 1982 with diplomatic status. Ms. Kildi’s father worked for the embassy while her mother stayed home with the children. Ms. Kildi is the youngest child and has 3 older brothers. There is a 15-year age gap between Ms. Kildi and her youngest brother. Ms. Kildi’s parents separated when she was an infant, and she was raised by her mother. Ms. Kildi did not maintain a relationship with her father.

8. Ms. Kildi’s mother reported that Ms. Kildi was an average student. She largely kept to herself and did not have a big group of friends. Being of the Muslim faith, she was not allowed to have sleepovers with friends and was home all the time.

Criminal History

9. Ms. Kildi has no prior criminal record.

Psychiatric History

10. Ms. Kildi’s psychiatric history is set out in detail in the hospital report. Her mother reported that things started to change with her daughter around age 16. She started to hang out with a bad crowd at school and got involved with marijuana. Ms. Kildi started to run away for periods of time, and then at age 18, she left for about a year. When she returned, Ms. Kildi was reportedly in poor health. She looked unwell, had burn marks on her arm and scars. She was observed to start to cry out of nowhere, laugh and talk to herself aloud, and lie all the time. She thought at first her daughter was purposefully lying but now she believes her daughter was delusional. She mentioned that her daughter does not typically get physically violent but can be verbally aggressive.

11. Ms. Kildi’s mother believes that her daughter was the victim of the recent alleged offences and that the investigators changed their stories. She mentioned her daughter has been angrier since the incident occurred and is traumatized.

12. Ms. Kildi’s mother stated that she has tried to encourage her daughter to seek medical help for her mental health over the years, but her daughter does not like to take medicine. She used marijuana regularly and would develop Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome. Her daughter thought it was food causing the vomiting and would feel the need to clean her body several times a day. She would engage in odd hygiene routines like putting toothpaste all over her body or salt in the bathtub 5-6 times a day. Ms. Kildi felt she had to sanitize her body out of the fear she would catch something. Ms. Kildi’s mother hired a psychologist for her daughter, but they only saw each other about 3 times as Ms. Kildi stopped attending. This psychologist had offered to help apply for ODSP, but Ms. Kildi denied having a disability.

13. Dr. de Laplante reported in the Fitness assessment dated March 27, 2023, that “Since April 2022, Ms. Kildi has presented to the emergency department 21 times. These presentations have essentially all been for vomiting, most often thought to be related to cannabis use. Some of the emergency department visits have also noted bizarre behaviour. For example, on October 14, 2022, her mother confirmed that there was “ongoing bizarre behaviour”.

14. Ms. Kildi was discharged from the Forensic Rehabilitation Unit of the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre on November 25, 2023, following a Keep Fit Order. She was discharged to live with her mother in her brother’s home. She continued to follow up for outpatient appointments and receive her long-acting antipsychotic injection (aripiprazole).

15. Ms. Kildi previously described experiencing symptoms of negative mood alterations, intermittent nightmares related to the alleged offences, and flashbacks throughout the day related to the alleged offences. The nightmares were of unknown frequency, however, at times could recur three nights in a row. She denied symptoms of hypervigilance or hyperarousal. She denied symptoms of dissociation. She was seeking counselling or other supports for these symptoms.

16. Ms. Kildi’s current diagnoses are set out in the hospital as follows:

• Schizophrenia, multiple episodes, in full remission
• Other specified trauma and stressor-related disorder
• Cannabis use disorder, in sustained remission.

Evidence at the Hearing

17. The hospital’s evidence was presented through its report as well as through the oral testimony of Dr. J. Hwang. This evidence is summarized below.

18. Dr. Hwang adopted the contents of the hospital and advised that there were no significant updates since the completion of the report. Over the course of the past year Ms. Kildi has maintained her mental stability and there has been no emergence of psychotic or negative symptoms. Ms. Kildi has remained abstinent of cannabis use and there have been no reported incidents of aggression or violence.

19. Ms. Kildi has developed greater insight into her diagnosis of schizophrenia and demonstrates a better understanding of the symptoms of that illness. According to Dr. Hwang, more work is needed to develop a better understanding of the link between the symptoms of her schizophrenia and her violence risk. That will be a target of treatment in the next year.

20. Ms. Kildi has remained abstinent from cannabis use in the last year and her last reported instance of consumption was in June of 2024. According to Dr. Hwang, Ms. Kildi still needs to develop greater insight into the negative effects of cannabis on her mental stability.

21. Ms. Kildi exhibits difficulty developing trust in those around her and this can be a barrier to treatment, particularly when there are new members of the treatment team that become involved with her. To address this, Ms. Kildi has been working with an occupational therapist on her past trauma and how this impacts her ability to develop trust in others. This work will continue in the next year.

22. Further to questions posed to her by counsel for the Attorney General, Ms. Dufort, Dr. Hwang responded as follows:

(a) Dr. Hwang is still recommending that Ms. Kildi’s disposition include an abstention clause and a requirement to submit to urine drug testing (“UDTs”). Ms. Kildi has at times been a day or two late when called upon to provide a urine sample, however with cannabis this would not likely change the test result given how long cannabis remains in the system. It could impact an abstention of alcohol but according to Dr. Hwang there are no concerns with Ms. Kildi’s use of alcohol at this time. Dr. Hwang believes that further development of internal motivation needs to happen with respect to cannabis use as Ms. Kildi is currently externally motivated by the conditions of her disposition. When she is with friends who consume cannabis, Ms. Kildi has reported that they are respectful of the fact that she is required by the terms of a disposition not to consume cannabis. Ms. Kildi has raised with Dr. Hwang the potential of using other products containing THC and following their discussions it was agreed that this was not advisable.

(b) Ms. Kildi is now working with a new case manager, Ms. Meaghan Hartley, who was present at the hearing. This relationship is quite new. After losing her first case manager, Ms. Jaroudi, Ms. Kildi started working with Ms. Mohsen and this relationship did not work out. According to Dr. Hwang, Ms. Kildi needs to work on being more open and trusting which is a problem for her and likely a response to the trauma that she has experienced in her life.

(c) Ms. Kildi is keen on finding employment, in part to potentially fund future studies, and it will be a goal for her in the next year to work with a vocational therapist to find employment. Dr. Hwang agreed that seeking employment can be stress-inducing and that this is an ongoing conversation where Ms. Kildi has demonstrated an openness in discussing this with her treatment team.

(d) When asked whether the recommended reporting frequency of not less than once every two weeks is sufficient for this purpose, Dr. Hwang answered affirmatively. Last year, when Ms. Kildi was required to report not less than once every four weeks, there were instances where reporting went that length of time and there were no issues noted.

(e) Ms. Kildi is currently on a long-acting injectable with some oral medications as well. Dr. Hwang is of the opinion that the long-acting injectable is sufficient to keep her well during the proposed reporting frequency period. In addition, Ms. Kildi has been more open about discussing her symptoms and is no longer experiencing side effects from her medication. Ms. Kildi has occasionally demonstrated increased lability which has been pointed out to her and though she tends to minimize it, she is able to recognize it and give her side of the story. This will also be a target of treatment over the next year.

23. Further to questions posed to her by counsel for Ms. Kildi, Ms. Konarowski, Dr. Hwang responded as follows:

(a) Dr. Hwang confirmed that in the last year, Ms. Kildi has been stable, is taking medication as prescribed, has had no admissions to hospital, and has not used cannabis since June 2024.

(b) Ms. Kildi continues to live with her mother, is no longer expressing a desire to move, and that housing remains appropriate for her.

(c) Over the course of the past year, Ms. Kildi missed some appointments and was occasionally late. This was due at times to poor planning at times, but when working with Ms. Mohsen, seemed to avoid her appointments with her.

24. In response to the Panel’s questions, Dr. Hwang explained that the hospital is asking for increased reporting in order to ensure greater oversight as they are recommending moving from a detention order to a conditional discharge. The hospital wants to ensure that there is more frequent oversight as it is expected that Ms. Kildi will be travelling and may be more exposed to drugs, as well as she may be meeting with people that could create more affective and emotional lability. Dr. Hwang believes that Ms. Kildi would agree to come into hospital if asked to do so, and if not, the provisions of Box A of the Mental Health Act would likely apply as she has been very unwell in the past.

25. Dr. Hwang explained that Ms. Kildi’s relationship with her Case Manager, Ms. Mohsen, was superficial and that she refused to engage with her.

26. With respect to travel, Dr, Hwang is not considering recommending any limits on travel as the hospital is recommending a less restrictive disposition though she believes that the abstention and testing clauses are still required as Ms. Kildi’s insight is not yet robust enough to test her without a such conditions. Dr. Hwang believes that Ms. Kildi’s travel plans, namely, to travel to Turkey with her mother and possibly attend a concert in the U.S. with her brother, are realistic.

27. The hospital’s risk assessment is contained on pages 33 and 34 of the hospital report and reads as follows:

“In assessing Ms. Kildi’s risk of future violence, the writer used the HCR-20, version 3, a structured clinical judgment instrument. The writer is of the opinion that Ms. Kildi presents as a mild-to-moderate risk of future violence, namely any aggressive behaviours that she has exhibited in the past, specifically assault.

Ms. Kildi’s historical (static) risk factors for violence remains the same as last year and I will not repeat it here. Ms. Kildi has the following clinical (current or recent) risk factors:

• C1: Recent problems with insight – Ms. Kildi’s insight into her mental illness, namely schizophrenia, has improved slightly over the past year, where she is able to state her past psychotic symptoms and acknowledge that the antipsychotic medications prevent a psychotic relapse. However, she is unable to recognize the relationship between her symptoms and violence risk. Further, she continues to minimize the negative effect cannabis has on her mental health.

• C5: Recent problems with treatment or supervision response – Ms. Kildi is at times late for scheduled appointments for follow-up meetings with the treatment team. She has difficulty trusting new team members and becomes easily disengaged when her thoughts or actions are challenged. Her motivation in participating in rehabilitation programs in the outpatient forensic department has improved over the past year, and she has actively sought out individual trauma counselling.

Ms. Kildi has the following risk management (future) factors:

• R3: Future problems with personal support – Ms. Kildi’s relationships with her family members are at times unstable, leading to arguments, which is a major source of stress for her.

• R4: Future problems with treatment or supervision response – Ms. Kildi’s past problems with treatment compliance and current problems with attending appointments are factors that would increase the risk of future treatment or supervision response.

• R5: Future problems with stress or coping – Although Ms. Kildi has attended group therapy sessions to learn coping skills, she has struggled to apply them in real-life scenarios and therefore continues to have difficulty coping with stress.

Positive features include Ms. Kildi's motivation to seek employment and her ability to abstain from cannabis for the past year. Her involvement in therapy groups has improved, and she has gained greater insight into her mental illness.

Based on this assessment, the most likely scenario involving risk of violence would be Ms. Kildi developing another psychotic episode in the context of psychosocial stressors and going off her medications or using substances like cannabis or stimulant. The psychotic symptoms may include persecutory delusions where she would target those who she believes are hurting her or her family.”

28. No other evidence was presented.

Submissions of the Parties

29. The Board was presented with a joint submission of all parties that Ms. Kildi continues to meet the threshold of significant threat to the safety of the public, and that a conditional discharge would now be adequate to manage the risk.

Analysis and Disposition

30. Having considered all of the evidence tendered at the hearing, and the submission of the parties, the Board does find that Ms. Kildi poses a significant threat to the safety of the public as defined in s 672.5401 of the Criminal Code of Canada, and as further defined in Winko v. British Columbia (Forensic Psychiatric Institute), 1999 CanLII 694 (SCC), [1999] 2 S.C.R. 625.

31. According to Winko, a ‘significant threat to the safety of the public’ means a real risk of physical or psychological harm to members of the public that is serious in the sense of going beyond the merely trivial or annoying. The conduct giving rise to the harm must be criminal in nature. Further, it is noted that evidence to determine whether an individual is a significant threat to the safety of the public can include the past and expected course of the NCR accused’s treatment, if any, the present state of the NCR accused’s medical condition, the NCR accused’s own plans for the future, the support services existing for the NCR accused in the community, as well as other items.

32. Our finding that Ms. Kildi continues to pose a significant threat to the safety of the public is based on the uncontroverted evidence of the hospital, both in its report and in the oral testimony of Dr. Hwang. Ms. Kildi suffers from a major mental disorder, schizophrenia, culminating in the serious index offences which occurred while Ms. Kildi was very unwell, experiencing persecutory delusions and disorganized behaviour. Following a long period of mental instability, Ms. Kildi has considerably improved with treatment and that trajectory has been maintained over the past year.

33. Ms. Kildi is demonstrating better insight into her diagnosis and the symptoms of her illness, but more work is needed to help her understand the connection between those symptoms and her violence risk. Ms. Kildi has also successfully abstained from cannabis use for the past year but needs to develop better insight into the effects of cannabis on her mental stability to be more internally motivated to abstain in the longer term.

34. We agree with the joint position before us, that Ms. Kildi’s ongoing stability and current engagement with her treatment team support a less restrictive disposition for the coming year.

35. Having considered the factors at s. 672.54, namely the protection of the public, which is the paramount consideration, the mental condition of the accused, the reintegration of the accused into society and her other needs, the Board finds a conditional discharge is the necessary and appropriate, and the least onerous and least restrictive disposition at this time, which shall include the following conditions:

• Reside at 402 – 316 Lorry Greenberg Drive, Ottawa, Ontario
• Report to the person of the facility not less than once every two weeks
• Abstain from substances and submit to random urine drug screens
• Advise the person in change of any absence of her residence of 48 hours or more.

36. We congratulate Ms. Kildi for an overall positive year and hope that she can maintain this trajectory over the coming year.

DATED this 12th day of September 2025, at the City of Toronto, in the Toronto Region.

Ms. M. Labrosse Alternate Chairperson

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Office of the Registrar Ontario Review Board