The defendant was charged under section 149(2) of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act with willfully failing to inform the WSIB of a material change in circumstances affecting his benefit entitlement.
Following a workplace accident in 2006 resulting in a temporal bone fracture, the defendant received benefits that were subsequently denied on appeal, leaving him subject to a potential repayment obligation exceeding half a million dollars.
During trial, the defendant collapsed in court, prompting a referral for fitness assessment under section 44 of the Provincial Offences Act.
The court found the defendant unfit to stand trial based on psychiatric evidence of conversion disorder and chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, and ordered the proceedings suspended.
