TORONTO -- The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) can now allow Rohinie Bisesar, the woman found not criminally responsible for the 2015 deadly stabbing in Toronto’s underground PATH system, to live in the community in “supervised accommodation.”
In November 2018, Bisesar was found not criminally responsible for stabbing 28-year-old Rosemarie Junor to death inside a Shoppers Drug Mart, located beneath Bay and Wellington streets, on Dec. 11, 2015.
At the time, Justice John McMahon told a packed courtroom full of the victim’s family and friends that he was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Bisesar “suffered from a mental disorder, schizophrenia, when she took this woman’s life.”
“She was incapable of knowing the killing was morally and legally wrong,” he said.
The verdict came after Bisesar pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder.
During the one-day judge-only trial, the courtroom heard from a forensic psychiatrist that Bisesar had experienced a psychiatric breakdown due to untreated schizophrenia at the time of the incident. It was also noted in an agreed statement of facts presented in court that Bisesar and Junor had never met each other.
A not criminally responsible verdict sent Bisesar back to a secure wing of CAMH, where she was receiving treatment following her diagnosis and responding well to medication, the psychiatrist said.
The Ontario Review Board, which decides if and how not criminally responsible patients should be detained, then held a hearing at CAMH regarding the matter on May 1.
In a decision released on May 5, the board ordered the person in charge of CAMH to “create a program for the detention in custody and rehabilitation of the accused” within the unit Bisesar is being held, in which they can decide under their own discretion if she may be permitted to do the following:
- Attend within or outside of the hospital for necessary medical, dental, legal or compassionate purposes
- Have hospital and ground privileges escorted by staff, accompanied by staff or person approved by the person in charge or “indirectly supervised”
- To enter the community of Toronto escorted by staff, accompanied by staff or person approved by the person in charge or “indirectly supervised”
- To live in the community in supervised accommodation approved by the person in charge
The board also ordered the person in charge of CAMH to notify local police if they exercise their discretion to permit Bisesar to enter the community.
Bisesar has been ordered by the board to refrain from having any firearm, ammunition or other offensive weapon in her possession or be in the company of any person possessing a firearm other than a peace officer.
As well, she has been ordered to report to the person in charge of CAMH or another designated person “not less than once per week” when living in the community.
In a statement sent to CTV News Toronto on Thursday, CAMH said its focus remains “on the health and safety of patients and in turn the wider community.”
"For patients found not criminally responsible on the grounds of mental disorder, the forensic program provides care under the legal framework determined by the Ontario Review Board, which is revisited on an annual basis,” the statement said.
CAMH said clinicians at the facility provide their professional recommendations throughout this process.
“CAMH always delivers care following established and stringent safety protocols, implementing all of the board’s decisions, to protect public safety and with the ultimate goal of rehabilitation.”
Following the not criminally responsible verdict, Junor’s family continued to insist Bisesar should serve time in a correctional facility despite her diagnosis.
“She murdered somebody, bottom line,” Junor’s mother said.
Bisesar has been at the east-end mental health hospital since her arrest.
