Court File and Parties
Court File No.: CR-24-00000090-00MO Date: 2025-12-05 Superior Court of Justice - Ontario
Re: His Majesty the King And: Nicola Puddicombe
Before: R.F. Goldstein J.
Counsel: Robert Kenny and Alice Bradstreet, for the Crown C Mitchell Huberman and Kaitlin Mathews, for Nicola Puddicombe
Heard: November 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, December 1, 3, 4, 2025
Endorsement Re: Application to Reduce Parole Ineligibility
1On October 27, 2006, Nicola Puddicombe murdered Dennis Hoy. She was arrested for the murder on May16, 2007. A jury convicted Ms. Puddicombe of first-degree murder on December 3, 2009. The trial judge sentenced her by operation of law to the mandatory penalty of life imprisonment without eligibility for parole for 25 years.
2Ms. Puddicombe is eligible for full parole on May 16, 2032. She applied for a reduction in her years of parole ineligibility pursuant to s. 745.6 of the Criminal Code. On September 6, 2024, I released a decision determining, pursuant to s. 745.61(1) that there was a "reasonable prospect that the application will proceed" and determined that a jury should be empanelled to hear the application. (Of note, as of 2011 the standard changed to a "substantial likelihood that the application will succeed").
3The jury began hearing evidence on November 19, 2025. The jury rendered a verdict on December 4, 2025.
4The original indictment from the 2009 trial cannot be located. Accordingly, I signed an endorsement recording the jury verdict on a substitute indictment. I have prepared this endorsement to avoid any uncertainty about the outcome of the hearing.
5The jury determined that Ms. Puddicombe will be eligible to apply for parole on May 16, 2029.
6This endorsement should be forwarded to the Correctional Services of Canada for placement in Ms. Puddicombe's file in case there should be any issues arising from the fact that original trial indictment cannot be located.
R.F. Goldstein J.
Date: December 5, 2025