Unsupervised leave for killer John Lai
killer John Lai is able to leave Whitby’s facility for the mentally ill on his own.
Lai, who fatally stabbed his Peterborough landlord Cindy Torbar 127 times in March 2016, will be allowed up to 12 hours to enter the community, within a 150-kilometre radius of the Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences.
An Ontario Review Board panel approved the passes at the beginning of June after Lai’s ORB hearing on May 31. The staff at Ontario Shores will be required to notify Durham Regional Police of the terms and conditions Lai much follow when leaving the premises.
The 27-year-old is required to abstain from non-medical use of alcohol and drugs and submit, on a random basis, to drug and alcohol test. The panel also ordered Lai be moved from Ontario Shores to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.
Peterborough Police found Lai in a Middlefield Rd. house in the city’s southeast end with a bloody-butcher knife standing over Torbar’s body. During the incident Lai was shot by police, and the officer who shot him, Const. Randy Ready, has since been cleared by the Special Investigations Unit.
Lai was charged with murder. In May 2017, Justice Michelle Fuerst ruled Lai not criminally responsible due to intense schizophrenia. Lai believed by stabbing Torbar he was releasing demons from her.
At the hearing, psychiatrist Dr. Zohar Waisman testified Lai is now without symptoms of schizophrenia and is regularly taking his medication.
“He has done very well and been an active participant in (an intensive psychological-therapy) program,” Waisman said.
Lai has been allowed escorted visits off Ontario Shores’ property with staff or an approved perPeterborough son since June of last year. According to Waisman, leaves would start at 30 minutes, with calling to check in every 15 minutes. By seeing how responsible Lai is with those privileges, doctors can assess whether to give him more time, with regular check-ins.
“At this point he can be trusted with very gradual, very slow privileges that are necessary to his recovery,” Waisman said.
Waisman said Lai’s family, particularly his mother, has been supportive of her son and his recovery, which has helped his rehabilitation.
By moving to a new facility, Lai would be closer to his family and farther away from Peterborough, making sure he might not accidentally come in contact with those affected by Torbar’s death.
Torbar’s best friend Stacey Fox has been outspoken about Lai’s quick access to privileges both on and off the Ontario Shores property. Fox, who lives close by the facility, was present at Lai’s first Ontario Review Board hearing in June 2017. An emotional Fox was unable to read her victim impact statement, leaving less than 10 minutes into the hearing after learning Ontario Shore’s goal was to grant Lai privileges as soon as possible.
“John’s wants and needs should not supersede the protection of the public,” her written statement read at the time.
After the not criminally responsible ruling, Lai was released from Central East Correctional Centre and brought to Ontario Shores, despite Fox’s request and a recommendation from the Crown not to have Lai reside just blocks from her and her family’s Whitby home.
“Sooner or later, Mr. Lai will have access to the hospital grounds as well as the community,” Fox’s husband Don Graham said at the time.
“The system has let my family down, placing Mr. Lai here at Ontario Shores without any consideration to what that would do to this community.”