Re: David Love, 2026 CanLII 23877

Re: David Love

ORB File No: 7828

Hearing held on: January 27, 2026

Place of hearing: St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, West 5^th Campus 100 West 5^th Street, Hamilton, Ontario

Pursuant to: Section 672.81 of the Criminal Code

Before:

Alternate Chairperson: Ms. S. Clapp

Members: Dr. H. Bloom Dr. A. Kerry Hon. A. Sosna Mr. A. Mete

Parties Appearing:

Accused: David Love Counsel: Mr. L. Dimitry

The Person in charge of Hospital: Counsel: Ms. L. Barney

Attorney General of Ontario: Counsel: Ms. C. Gzik

REASONS FOR DISPOSITION

(Dated: March 13, 2026)

Introduction:

1. On December 7, 2020 David Love was found not criminally responsible (“NCR”) on account of a mental disorder on a charge of Assault Cause Bodily Harm, contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada.

2. Mr. Love is currently under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Review Board (“ORB”), pursuant to a Disposition dated January 29, 2025, whereby he is detained at the Forensic Psychiatry Program at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, West 5^th Campus (“St. Joseph’s”) subject to conditions.

3. A panel of the Ontario Review Board (the “Board”) convened an annual hearing on January 27, 2026 at St. Joseph’s to review the current disposition pursuant to s. 672.81 of the Criminal Code. Mr. Love was present at the hearing and was represented by counsel, Mr. L. Dimitry.

4. The issue to be determined is whether Mr. Love is a significant threat to public safety, as defined in s. 672.5401 of the Criminal Code. If so, the necessary and appropriate Disposition in the circumstances must be determined, bearing in mind the factors enunciated in s. 672.54 of the Criminal Code.

5. For the reasons set out below and based on all the evidence, the panel concluded that Mr. Love continues to represent a significant threat to the safety of the public. The panel further concluded that his risk can be properly managed at St. Joseph’s on the same terms and conditions as set out in the 2025 Detention Order, with one change namely to require supervised accommodation when living in the community. The panel concluded that this is the necessary and appropriate, least restrictive and least onerous, Disposition in the circumstances.

Current Psychiatric Diagnosis:

6. Schizophrenia;

Stimulant Use Disorder - in remission in a controlled environment;

Anti-Social Personality Disorder

Position of the Parties:

7. At the commencement of the hearing, the parties were asked for their initial without prejudice positions. Counsel for the hospital submitted that Mr. Love represents a significant threat to the safety of the public and recommended a continuation of the terms provided in the 2005 Detention Order, with one additional term to be detailed later in these reasons.

8. Counsel for the Attorney General adopted the hospital’s position.

9. Counsel for Mr. Love stated he had no instructions to concede significant threat and left that issue to be determined by the panel.

10. The Hospital Report dated January 5, 2026 was marked as Exhibit 1. Dr. Aaron Wu adopted the contents of the Hospital Report and testified. Mr. Love testified on his own behalf.

Index Offence:

11. The details surrounding the index offence are as follows:

On July 23, 2020 at approximately 11:30 p.m., while in a plaza in Hamilton, Mr. Love punched a civilian bystander and broke his jaw. The incident was witnessed, and the police were called to attend the scene.

Upon their arrival they observed Mr. Love to be in a state of psychosis. He was agitated with little grasp of reality. He was talking about unrelated incidents that did not make sense. He asked to speak to his lawyer, Jesus Christ.

Mr. Love was subsequently charged with assault causing bodily harm, as provided in the Criminal Code of Canada.

Background:

12. Mr. Love is 37 years old. He is single. He has no dependants. He has a limited education, having been expelled from school in grade 10 because of alcohol and drug abuse, and for fighting. He was abusive towards family members when living with them.

13. Mr. Love’s employment history is limited. As a teenager he casually worked for several years in a fabricating shop with his father and paternal uncle. He later worked for his mother intermittently at a trucking company. According to his mother, Mr. Love has been supported by the Ontario Disability Support Program for many years.

14. Mr. Love was homeless for a significant period. His parents and siblings remain supportive, even though their relationship with him has been strained due to his aggressive, threatening and accusatory behaviour. Some members of the family have had restraining orders filed against him.

15. Mr. Love has an extensive criminal record commencing as a young offender and later as an adult under the Criminal Code. Over six years from 2014 to 2020, Mr. Love amassed 37 convictions, including numerous assault and uttering threat convictions, many convictions for breaches of court orders, and four drug related convictions.

Historical Psychiatric Profile:

16. Mr. Love exhibited difficulties with anger, oppositional behaviour, fighting and substance abuse since his early teens. This led to several arrests. His first psychiatric admission was in 2004 at the age of 16. He made at least two attempts to take his own life.

17. Mr. Love has an extensive history of psychiatric admissions, polysubstance abuse, and community out-patient care prior to the index offence. The reports describe his presentation as agitated, oppositional and frequently requiring chemical restraint and/or seclusion until his condition stabilized.

18. Despite being subject to Community Treatment Orders, Mr. Love was generally non-adherent with prescribed medication, and unreliable with his follow-up care in the community.

19. When Mr. Love was admitted to St. Joseph’s after being found NCR in December 2020, he had difficulty adjusting to the rules of the unit and limitations on freedom. Symptoms of his illness such as grandiose and somatic delusions were present. His insight into his mental illness and its symptoms was limited.

20. In 2022, despite being medicated, Mr. Love’s symptoms continued. He experienced auditory hallucinations and grandiose, and persecutory delusions. He intermittently expressed suicidal and homicidal ideation.

21. The 2023 Criminal Risk Summary at page 42 of the Hospital Report noted that:

Mr. Love has had a challenging year…He has had a number of relapses into crystal methamphetamine use which has led to increased psychosis, and agitation. He has been secluded twice due to aggressive behaviour after substance abuse. His drug use has led to verbal altercations with other patients and an escape from custody. Mr. Love has limited insight into his substance use. He does not understand the negative impacts of his drug relapse on his psychotic symptoms.

22. Mr. Love’s hallucinations and delusions continued, including a paranoid belief that staff, patients and his family were stealing his money. He believed that he owns a multimillion- dollar business. He regarded others as being sexual predators and held a bizarre delusion of being raped and stabbed by a patient.

23. The 2024 Criminal Risk Summary reported that Mr. Love continued to struggle with illicit substance use, and had a relapse, when he used marijuana while on a pass. Mr. Love’s insight into his substance use remained limited.

24. It was also noted that Mr. Love exhibited behavioural difficulties on the unit, not respecting boundaries of co-patients, inappropriately touching them and making derogatory comments to them. Mr. Love’s antagonistic conduct led to numerous physical altercations with patients. Mr. Love did not accept responsibility for his conduct.

25. Despite optimal doses of anti-psychotic medication, Mr. Love’s grandiose, persecutory and somatic delusions persisted. Mr. Love continued to have limited insight into his mental disorder and its connection with his risk of violence. He is incapable of consenting to treatment and the Public Guardian and Trustee is his substitute decision-maker. Discussions were had with him about being administered clozapine, an anti-psychotic medication used to treat resistant schizophrenia, but Mr. Love was adamant against taking the medication.

Current Clinical Status:

26. The Hospital Report covers a period from October 2024 to October 2025.

27. During the reporting year Mr. Love presented as guarded yet polite. Mr. Love’s delusional beliefs persisted. On one occasion he claimed, amongst other things, that he had contracted HIV from bed bugs and his ex-girlfriend, and that he was being sexually assaulted and injected with needles by co-patients.

28. Mr. Love’s insight into his mental illness remained poor, and he continued to demonstrate limited awareness that others on occasion experienced him as intrusive.

29. On the positive side, Mr. Love was compliant with his medications. Mr. Love attended the hospital courtyard without any issues and received supervised visits from his mother, sister and niece.

30. The Hospital Report at page 63 summarized Mr. Love’s current clinical status thusly:

In terms of psychotic symptoms Mr. Love expressed ongoing grandiose and persecutory delusions. The intensity and even content of his delusions remain unchanged from previous reporting years. Mr. Love’s degree of delusional preoccupation appeared to fluctuate and would worsen during moments of stress and when illicit substances are consumed. His expressed false fixed beliefs including grandiose ideas of wealth, position, being owed millions, and delusional ideations about patients and family members….

With regard to insight, Mr. Love’s understanding and appreciation of his psychiatric disorders and associated risks remain limited. He is unable to appreciate that his psychotic beliefs and symptoms are manifestations of his psychotic illness…

Psychological Risk Assessment:

31. Similarly, consistent with the above clinical status, Mr. Love’s current risk status also has not changed since the ORB Hearing in 2025. The Hospital Report notes at pg. 67-68:

With respect to the clinical factors contributing to Mr. Love’s risk status, again, there has been no material change. He remains symptomatic and at times, disorganized. In addition, his behaviour towards others continues to be characterized as intrusive and bullying….

[Additionally], Mr. Love has continued to engage in rule breaking behaviours including smoking in areas that are prohibited…. attempts were made to discuss his inappropriate behaviour…On one occasion he escalated with a staff member, chasing her down the hall.

In terms of substance abuse, Mr. Love tested positive for cocaine on three separate occasions, but two of three were confirmed negative. One remained positive on confirmation. Mr. Dove’s insight remains quite poor in all domains…

Consistent with previous years, Mr. Love has shown limited engagement in structured programming during the reporting year…Regarding risk management, Mr. Love continues to require significant oversight and support to mitigate his risk potential.

In terms of overall risk status …. Mr. Love’s level of risk status has been assessed as falling in the moderate risk range with professional supports currently in place. Absent these supports, his risk is estimated to increase to the high-risk range.

Testimony at the Hearing:

32. Dr. Wu has been Mr. Love’s attending psychiatrist since 2023. Mr. Love had ongoing challenges and notable incidents over the reporting year as outlined in the hospital Report. However, he had successful passes into the community to attend his brother’s wedding and to visit family over Christmas.

33. Dr. Wu stated that Mr. Love’s continued rule breaking and agitated behaviours are as a result of his disorganization and treatment refractory symptoms. Dr. Wu testified that Mr. Love’s medications are optimized; however, discussions around clozapine continue. Although Mr. Love is incapable of consenting to treatment he is unwilling to comply with bloodwork and monitoring that is required for clozapine. Dr. Wu also noted that Mr. Love’s diagnosis of antisocial behaviour was a contributing factor.

34. Dr. Wu was asked why the treatment team was seeking supervised accommodation for Mr. Love. He responded that as a result of Mr. Love’s treatment refractory symptoms and his characterological deficits he requires direct oversight in the form of 24/7 supervision and support while living in the community. Including the word “supervised” in Mr. Love’s Disposition makes it clear that he requires this level of intensive support. All the waitlists that Mr. Love is currently on call for supervised housing. However, Dr. Wu testified that Mr. Love is not ready for discharge to the community at the current time.

35. Dr. Wu acknowledged that Mr. Love has been abstinent from substances and had not been physically aggressive since September 2025; however, Mr. Love’s rule breaking behaviours have continued. Dr. Wu testified that Mr. Love is not currently using the maximum privileges allowed by his current Disposition. He noted that Mr. Love has limited insight into the need for the stepwise and progressive nature of access to privileges.

36. Mr. Love testified he wanted to live in the community, having last lived in an apartment in 2010. His dream job is to be a chef at A&W or a bartender. He described his present situation as like a jail cell. If granted an Absolute Discharge he would have his freedom back. He stressed he just wanted his rights back. Mr. Love did not think that he needs supervised housing.

37. Mr. Love stated he believed his psychiatric medication helps him; however, he also acknowledged periods when he stopped taking the medication to see how he would feel and whether he would experience withdrawal. He testified when he stopped taking the medication he felt “pretty much the same”. He testified he did not want to take clozapine because he does not need it and does not hear voices.

38. He testified that while detained, he has been victimized because his personal property was stolen.

39. He stated he has never threatened anyone.

40. To his mind, it is he who has been threatened.

41. He indicated that he has been sober for one to two years. He did not think using a line of cocaine was a relapse as it was, “just a thing”.

Analysis and Conclusion:

42. On all the evidence, the panel finds that Mr. Love continues to represent a significant risk to the safety of the public.

43. Mr. Love has a long history of mental health problems. His first psychotic admission was in 2004 when he was 16 years old. He presented as angry, oppositional and agitated, symptoms similar to those he exhibits while detained under the jurisdiction of the ORB.

44. The index offence was violent. The victim was assaulted for reasons unknown and suffered a broken jaw. What is known, is that at the time, Mr. Love was in a psychotic state.

45. What is further known is that prior to the index offence, Mr. Love had an extensive history of psychiatric admissions. He largely remained untreated, due to his disinclination to remain in mental health care and take prescribed medication, and abusing drugs.

46. Over six years from 2014 to 2020, while untreated, Mr. Love was convicted of 37 Criminal Code offences, many involving violence, assaults and threatening. It is notable that the index offence, assault causing bodily harm, is part of this unbroken narrative, occurring in July of 2020.

47. The mental health challenges that Mr. Love presented when admitted to St. Joseph’s in 2020 remain unresolved. From his admission in 2020 to the present, Mr. Love has continued to have limited insight into his mental illness, its symptoms, and its connection with his risk of violence. He continues to hold deeply entrenched grandiose and persecutory delusions. He continues to struggle with substance abuse. Mr. Love continues to require significant oversight and support to mitigate his risk potential in all domains.

48. Mr. Love’s risk status while under ORB detention remains unchanged, as in previous years. As noted in the Psychological Risk Assessment, Mr. Love’s risk status falls in the moderate-risk range with the professional supports currently in place. Absent these supports his risk is estimated to increase to the high-risk range. The panel found that absent intense supervision Mr. Love is likely to relapse into substance abuse, discontinue his medications and return to a psychotic state where he would pose a significant threat of harm to members of the public.

49. The panel considered Mr. Love’s evidence. Although the panel appreciated that Mr. Love would like his freedom back, his evidence corroborated a number of concerns raised in the Hospital Report and by Dr. Wu. Mr. Love has no housing or psychiatric supports in the community, and the panel noted that the outpatient psychiatric care and community treatment orders were insufficient to mitigate Mr. Love’s risk in the past.

50. The panel concluded that a Detention Order is the necessary and appropriate means to manage Mr. Love’s risk to the safety of the public. Mr. Love requires intensive supervision and support provided by a Detention Order, and the hospital requires the ability to approve Mr. Love’s accommodation when he is ready for discharge into the community.

51. Accordingly, the necessary and appropriate Disposition, which is also the least onerous and least restrictive, is a continuation of the current (January 29, 2025) Detention Order with changes to:

(i) to live in the community in supervised accommodation approved by the person in charge.

52. Finally, the panel expressed concern that no details about the circumstances of Mr. Love’s prior convictions were available in the Hospital Report. This information is relevant to an evaluation of significant threat and the Hospital is encouraged to shore up those informational gaps.

DATED this 13^th day of March 2026, at the City of Toronto, in the Toronto Region.

Alexander Sosna

Legal Member

Office of the Registrar

Ontario Review Board