Ontario Review Board
Re: Shavelle Haughton
ORB File No: 7504/7594
Hearing held on: Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Place of hearing: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Pursuant to: Section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code
Before:
Alternate Chairperson: Ms. S. Kert
Members: Dr. T. Verny Dr. G. Nexhipi Hon. C. Nelson Mr. W. Apted
Parties Appearing:
Accused: Shavelle Haughton Counsel: Ms. C. Whillier
The person in charge of hospital: Representative: Dr. P. Darby
Attorney General of Ontario: Counsel: Mr. M. Yousuf
REASONS FOR DISPOSITION
(Dated February 4, 2026)
Overview
[1]. On February 1, 2019, Shavelle Haughton was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder (“NCR”) on charges of aggravated assault, and failure to comply with probation. Ms. Haughton is currently subject to a disposition of the Ontario Review Board detaining her at the Forensic Service of CAMH, with privileges extending to living in the community of the Greater Toronto Area in accommodation approved by the person in charge.
[2]. On December 17, 2025, this panel of the Ontario Review Board convened a hearing at CAMH to review that disposition. Ms. Haughton was present with her lawyer, Ms. Whillier.
[3]. The issues to be decided at this hearing are whether Ms. Haughton continues to pose a significant threat to public safety and, if so, what is the necessary and appropriate disposition, considering the four factors in s. 672.54 of the Criminal Code.
[4]. None of the parties contested a finding of significant threat, and the parties jointly submitted that given Ms. Haughton’s progress over the past couple of years, the necessary and appropriate disposition is a change to a conditional discharge, including a residence requirement. We agree. These are our reasons.
Background and Index Offences
[5]. Ms. Haughton is 34 years old. She moved to Canada from Jamaica when she was five and was raised in Toronto. She reported behavioural difficulties from the age of 13, with frequent thefts and shoplifting as a youth and a history of vandalizing school property. She began using marijuana at the age of 14 and by 16 was smoking it daily. She struggled academically, frequently skipped classes and left school in grade 10. At some point the CAS became involved in her care; she was placed in group homes, but often ran away.
[6]. Ms. Haughton has a longstanding history of schizophrenia, characterized by psychotic symptoms, gross disturbances of behaviour, and impairment of intellectual, cognitive, or social/interpersonal functioning. She also has a history of involvement with the criminal justice system, including convictions for assault with a weapon (Nov 2016), assault (Dec 2017) and uttering threats (Nov 2016 & Dec 2017). In August 2015, she was admitted to CAMH on a treatment order for fitness, assumedly after being charged. From June to November 2016 she was detained at Ontario Shores, initially on a treatment order after being charged with various offences (theft under, uttering threats, assault, etc.), and later for an NCR assessment. Although the psychiatric opinion was that Ms. Haughton had a defense of NCR available to her, she returned to court in November 2016 and pled guilty to some of her charges.
[7]. The index offences occurred in May and August 2018. On May 3, 2018, Ms. Haughton was charged with assault with a weapon after she hit another passenger on a TTC train with a windshield wiper. She was arrested at the scene and taken into custody. During transport to the station, she kicked out the rear passenger window of the police car. At the time she was subject to a probation order (in respect of convictions in Dec 2017) that required her to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.
[8]. On August 19, 2018, Ms. Haughton was charged after she stabbed a woman several times with a box cutter she had in her purse. Ms. Haughton had been sitting on the steps of a shelter when the victim walked by her. The two women were previously unknown to each other and had never spoken. The victim required multiple stitches to close the wounds on her left leg and hand.
[9]. Three days later, Ms. Haughton was admitted to CAMH on a treatment order after being found unfit to stand trial on the index charges. With treatment she was found fit approximately a month later, then returned to CAMH for an NCR assessment. In early October 2018, she assaulted a staff member by slapping her face several times, grabbing her clothes and banging her head against the wall. She was transferred to the Women’s Secure Unit where she remained minimally engaged, paranoid and internally preoccupied. She endorsed ongoing auditory hallucinations, including command hallucinations to hurt others. In November 2018, she was transferred back to the Vanier Centre to await her court date. While at Vanier she experienced a deterioration in her mental state after she was non-compliant with her antipsychotic medication.
[10]. In February 2019, Ms. Haughton was found NCR in respect of the August 2018 charges. She was returned to the Women’s Secure Unit at CAMH, where she continued to present as internally preoccupied. Her insight into her illness and need for treatment were poor, but her impulse control and behavioural organization appeared improved. Following an initial ORB hearing in May 2019, she was ordered detained at CAMH. In June 2019, she was transferred to a general forensic unit. In August 2019, she was found NCR in respect of the May 2018 offence. After a 12-day AWOL in October 2019, she was returned to the Women’s Secure Unit, but was transferred to a general unit in May 2020. Over time and with adherence to medication, the positive symptoms of her illness remitted, she was polite and compliant with staff direction and her behaviour during community passes was appropriate. There were no further AWOL episodes.
Evidence at the Hearing
[11]. At Ms. Haughton’s last annual ORB hearing in December 2024, the treatment team reported that she’d had a positive and stable year. She remained an inpatient until early April 2024, when she was discharged to high support transitional CMHA housing where she shared a unit with a roommate. While in hospital (from Dec 2023-April 2024) she was not involved in any rule violations, substance use or aggressive incidents. She continued to work part-time at the Out of this World Café, where she had been employed since March 2023. Her transition to community living occurred without incident.
[12]. At the current hearing we received evidence in the form of an updated hospital report and the oral evidence of Dr. P. Darby, who has been Ms. Haughton’s psychiatrist for the past six months (while Dr. Meng is on maternity leave). That evidence revealed as follows: Ms. Haughton’s tenure in the community this year was uneventful. There were no readmissions to hospital, no behavioural incidents, and no positive urine screens (UDS). In fact, Ms. Haughton has not had a positive UDS since coming under the jurisdiction of the Review Board in 2019.
[13]. Ms. Haughton is well-engaged with her treatment team and meets with her case manager once weekly. Her mental status has remained stable, including following a move to new CMHA housing in January 2025. In her new building (which offers more permanent housing), Ms. Haughton has a bachelor apartment of her own. Staff are not directly on site but are available daily in the CMHA building across the road. She is working as a dishwasher at a shelter five days a week, for four hours each shift. She continues to have a good relationship with her family and other residents at her housing.
[14]. Ms. Haughton has also remained compliant with her oral antipsychotic medication. In August 2025, she assumed responsibility for independent medication administration. The team is satisfied that her bloodwork indicates that she continues to be adherent. The view of the treatment is that Ms. Haughton’s insight regarding her mental illness has also improved over the last couple of years - she shows good understanding that her auditory hallucinations are a symptom of her mental illness.
Analysis and Conclusion
[15]. Based on the evidence, and noting the joint submission, we find that Ms. Haughton continues to meet the threshold test for significant threat. Ms. Haughton has a lengthy history of experiencing the symptoms of her major mental disorder (schizoaffective disorder), including delusions, hallucinations and disorganized thought and behaviour. Her psychiatric history is closely associated with her acting out aggressively towards persons in her immediate vicinity. Non-adherence with medication and cannabis use have contributed to decompensations in her mental state, including at the time of the index offences, both of which involved significant violence toward strangers and occurred when Ms. Haughton was not taking medication and was floridly psychotic.
[16]. Over the years, Ms. Haughton’s understanding that she has a psychotic mental illness and of her symptoms has improved. However, her insight into her risk management needs and into the negative effects of cannabis use are more limited. She continues to require the support and oversight of the clinical team (provided under an ORB disposition), absent which there is a risk that, as in the past, Ms. Haughton would experience a relapse of her psychotic symptoms as a result of medication non-adherence, substance use, and/or an inability to cope with stressors. She would develop delusional beliefs and experience auditory hallucinations, including command hallucinations to harm others. In her disorganized and disinhibited state, Ms. Haughton would be at risk of serious violence to others.
[17]. We also agree that given Ms. Haughton’s stability over the last two years and her continued positive engagement with the clinical team, the next step in the forensic process is for Ms. Haughton to receive a conditional discharge disposition. As articulated by Dr. Darby, this is so for a number of reasons: Ms. Haughton has had another good year in the community. She handled the move to more independent housing well, likes where she is living and has no current intention of moving. She has a good relationship with her clinical team.
[18]. Ms. Haughton understands that her continued community tenure depends on her ongoing medication adherence, substance abstinence, and avoiding conflicts. She has been very responsible with her medications, her mental state is quite stable, and the team anticipates that if she were to decompensate this would not occur rapidly, but would be something that the team would pick up on and could address with Ms. Haughton. Because she does not want to get into trouble again, Ms. Haughton has been abstinent under an ORB disposition. For similar reasons, she is likely to agree to a voluntary hospital admission, should the team view that as necessary. In the alternative, given her pattern in the past of aggressive behaviour when decompensated, the team is comfortable that Box A criteria (serious harm to others) could be used to readmit her.
[19]. Accordingly, considering public safety, which is paramount, as well as Ms. Haughton’s mental condition, her reintegration into society and her other needs, we order that she be discharged subject to conditions, including (but not limited to) conditions requiring that she reside at her current housing; abstain from drug and alcohol use and submit samples to test for abstinence; not possess firearms or other weapons; and report to the person in charge of CAMH or their designate not less than once every two weeks.
DATED this 4th day of February, 2026, at the City of Toronto, in the Region of Toronto.
Ms. S. Kert Alternate Chairperson
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Office of the Registrar Ontario Review Board