The Ontario Review Board has ruled that a man who murdered his step-grandfather in 2008 and threatened his father in 2015 will see fewer check-ins with his mental health-care team despite remaining a “significant threat to the safety of the public.”
In a decision dated July 27, the board reviewed the conditions granted to Andrew Brazier after he was found not criminally responsible of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm.
Brazier, who is diagnosed with schizophrenia and substance use disorder (cannabis) in remission, threatened his father over text on the evening of Aug. 5, 2015 after he attended St. Joseph’s Hospital in Hamilton to be assessed for what the board described as a “decline in his mental state.”
The board found that, prior to the incident, Brazier had discontinued ongoing assistance from a community mental health team, had stopped his medication, and increased his use of cannabis. They said that Brazier’s increased cannabis use “played a role” in both the 2015 episode and the murder in 2008.
According to the ruling, on Feb. 28, 2008, Brazier “brutally” stabbed his step-grandfather in the throat as he was laying in bed alongside his wife.
“In the months leading up to the murder, Mr. Brazier had been abusing marijuana and had become increasingly withdrawn and overtly hostile. Prior to this offence, Mr. Brazier had been experiencing psychotic symptoms including ideas of reference, hallucinations, and delusions,” the decision read.
Brazier was found not criminally responsible on a charge of second-degree murder later that year.
He was placed under the jurisdiction of the Review Board after the 2008 incident before receiving an absolute discharge in 2013. Following the 2015 incident, he has been required to report to St. Joseph’s hospital not less than once every two months.
As part of his annual review, representatives for the hospital and the Attorney General of Ontario recommended a continuation of that conditional discharge disputation, but with an amendment to a reporting frequency of not less than once every three months.
Brazier’s lawyer requested an absolute discharge, but maintained that if the board found he remained a threat to the public, she would agree with the hospital’s position.
Cannabis use remains a ‘significant risk factor’
In making its decision, which was not unanimous, two of the five board members noted that Brazier is now at a “different place” in his life, with a wife, a young child, stable housing, gainful employment and medication compliance.
However, the three other board members found that his use of cannabis remains a “significant risk factor” in the potential worsening of his mental state.
After abstaining from the drug following the 2008 murder, Brazier began smoking cannabis regularly and stopped taking his medication. A similar trend played out in 2021 following a five-year period of abstinence.
And although his current cannabis use has not resulted in the “decompensation” of his mental state, the board majority ruled his insight into the potential risk from cannabis use remains “concerning.”
“Notably, despite receiving consistent feedback from his treating psychiatrist and members of the treatment team against using cannabis Mr. Brazier remains determined to prove that cannabis consumption does not affect his mental status, which given his history is very concerning.”
They also stated, although Brazier is in the process of becoming a patient of a community psychiatrist, the absence of a court-ordered mental health-care team following an absolute discharge would increase his risk of being an “imminent threat to the physical or psychological safety of the public, particularly to vulnerable family members.”
In delivering its ruling, the board determined that Brazier remained a risk to the public and stopped short of granting him an absolute discharge. They did however adjust the cadence of his hospital reporting to not less than once every three months.
His next annual review will take place within six months.
