The man charged with attempted murder after a Sarnia police officer was repeatedly stabbed in the head and neck during a welfare check is being sent to a psychiatric hospital to find out if he can be held criminally responsible.
Ryan Whiteway, 36, was arrested Aug. 20 at his downtown Sarnia condo building after Karl Brown, a 37-year-old constable, was rushed to London hospital with multiple stab wounds. He was released from hospital two days later, but he needs ongoing medical care, police said.
Whiteway, who was denied bail , was back in a Sarnia courtroom Wednesday, where defence lawyer Joseph Stoesser asked the judge to get an assessment as to whether he was criminally responsible at the time of the offence.
An assessment can be ordered by a judge to determine whether a person who was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of an offence was criminally responsible for his or her actions, according to Legal Aid Ontario’s website. Unlike a fitness assessment, which is concerned with a person’s current mental state, an assessment of criminal responsibility is done to determine the person’s mental state at the time of the offence, it says.
In a 2017 post on The London Free Press’ website, Melissa Elfers, a psychology student at King’s University College, wrote about public misconceptions of those found not criminally responsible and how rare those cases are.
Justice Mark Poland signed the order as Stoesser requested and the case was adjourned two months for an update on the assessment. Whiteway was told he’ll be going to Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care in Penetanguishene.
After raising security concerns in the Sarnia Jail, Whiteway had been transferred to Maplehurst Correctional Complex in Milton.
During Whiteway’s self-represented bail hearing in September, the court heard he’d been the subject of 20 police calls, including six wellbeing checks, and an order had been issued by a justice of the peace for him to be examined under Ontario’s Mental Health Act on Aug. 9, less than two weeks before the incident, but police couldn’t find him. Brown and his partner were there twice Aug. 20 and entered his unit the second time after hearing a screaming sound.
During Whiteway’s previous court appearances, he’s frequently stated police came into his condo with no notice of entry and abducted him. He’s also claimed the Crown’s disclosure of evidence is full of lies.
Along with attempted murder, Whiteway is facing a second charge in Sarnia of breaching an undertaking for allegedly not telling police in Guelph his address had changed. Whiteway also previously was charged in Guelph with one count of criminal harassment.
None of the charges have been tested in court.