Cambridge man called 911 over 5,000 times in six days

KITCHENER — A Cambridge man who inundated the 911 system with more than 5,000 calls in six days walked out of court on Thursday with a conditional discharge.

The man had been in a psychotic state, likely caused by using illegal drugs, court was told.

In April 2017, he made 5,549 cellphone calls to 911, hanging up every time.

“Because of the volume of calls, (police) suspected some sort of a computer-assisted device was used, but it wasn’t,” defence lawyer Bernard Cummins told court. “My client manually dialed it every single time.”

The 42-year-old, who has no prior record, pleaded guilty to mischief.

A psychiatrist concluded the man was in a psychotic state, having paranoid thoughts and hearing voices, court was told. He is doing much better now, Cummins said. He takes medication and works part-time at a grocery store.

Tying up emergency resources is a serious crime, said Crown prosecutor Brendan Thomas. He asked for a suspended sentence. Cummins sought a conditional discharge.

“This is not a minor offence, but for a number of reasons I think a conditional discharge would not be contrary to the public interest,” Justice Pamela Borghesan said.

“I think if the public was apprised of all of the circumstances here ... if they knew about you, if they knew about the mental health component, if they knew that you had no record, if they knew you entered a guilty plea ...”

The judge agreed a “mental health struggle” was to blame and The Record has decided not to name the man.

The man, who spent two days in pretrial custody, was ordered to do 30 hours of community service and was put on probation for 18 months.