Detention order issued for killer found naked and screaming at Ontario lake

A Toronto man found not criminally responsible for killing his girlfriend who got a conditional discharge earlier this year from the Ontario Review Board is subject to a new detention order after police found him this summer roaming naked around a Simcoe County lake screaming about God.

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Subsequent urine testing found that Michal Nowaczek-Said was not taking his anti-psychotic medication, according to a recent decision from the ORB, an independent tribunal that regularly reviews the status of individuals found not criminally responsible due to mental disorder.

“In this case, the nature and degree of Mr. Nowaczek-Said’s risk to public safety, including the speed and intensity of a relapse of his illness, compels the conclusion that a conditional discharge … is insufficient to protect the public,” according to an Aug. 25 ORB decision.

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Nowaczek-Said, now 33, was found not criminally responsible in December 2020 for his girlfriend’s murder three years previous.

The panel heard that on the day Nowaczek-Said introduced his girlfriend to his mother, Sept. 10, 2017, the couple began arguing in his mom’s apartment.

They had only met a week before at the Canadian National Exhibition.

Their argument evolved into a physical fight, and his mom tried to intervene to separate the two.

“While doing so, (her son) punched her in the head multiple times resulting in her nose bleeding profusely,” said the ORB decision, which notes his mother then fled her apartment and called police.

When police arrived on the scene, they learned Nowaczek-Said was armed with a knife.

“The accused exited the apartment with no shirt on and covered in blood.”

Police found his girlfriend lying on the blood-soaked kitchen floor.

The woman had 11 stab wounds to her abdomen, a significant stab wound to her neck and several defensive wounds.

“The victim was conscious and kept saying she couldn’t breathe. The initial officer asked the victim who did this and she replied, ‘Michael did it.’ The victim then went unconscious and the officer realized that she had no pulse.”

Paramedics rushed her to St. Michael’s Hospital, but she died two days later.

This past February, the ORB gave Nowaczek-Said a conditional discharge that required him to report not less than twice monthly to the person in charge of Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

Other conditions included that he abstain from the non-medical use of drugs, alcohol and other intoxicants, “submit samples for testing for same,” and agree to prescribed treatment.

Nowaczek-Said, who has criminal convictions related to previous domestic relationships, reported once fighting with a former girlfriend, who bore his child. “Mr. Nowaczek-Said tied her to a chair and threatened her with a gun. As a result, he was charged with several offences and received a penitentiary sentence in 2013.”

He was hospitalized at CAMH following the NCR verdict from January 2021 until his discharge to community living in November 2023.

By the spring of 2023, his “behaviour, participation, and engagement were described as ‘outstanding,’” said the decision.

His transition to community living “went very well,” it said.

“He attended his appointments with the Hospital’s Forensic Outpatient Service, continued to take his oral antipsychotic medication on his own, submitted consistently negative urine drug screen samples and displayed no indications of returning to cannabis or other substance use, and remained free of symptoms of his illness.”

The hospital recommended a conditional discharge as “necessary and appropriate” at a hearing this past February.

Nowaczek-Said was living with his father, and “considering moving in with his fiancée at some point,” said the decision.

Nowaczek-Said, who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder “in sustained remission,” reported to his transitional case manager every two weeks.

Visits with his psychiatrist were reduced to once every two months “due to his continued stability.”

But during a meeting with his handlers this past May, “he presented with notable changes in his mental state from the meeting’s outset,” said the decision.

“He was loud, restless, talkative, and overinclusive. He repeatedly interrupted and dominated the interview, and there was evidence of underlying irritability when challenged.”

When his handlers pointed out the change, Nowaczek-Said “became increasingly defensive,” said the decision. “He insisted that to the contrary, he felt more like himself than he had in a long time and that he was becoming more like the version of himself that he was before he became ill.”

On June 2, Nowaczek-Said’s psychiatrist got test results back indicating his patient had not taken his antipsychotic medication “for several days.”

Nowaczek-Said “was adamant that he had been compliant,” said the decision.

In a lengthy phone conversation with his psychiatrist, Nowaczek-Said reported that his father had recently been diagnosed with cancer and things weren’t going smoothly with his fiancée.

On June 3, after the call with his psychiatrist, Nowaczek-Said “was apprehended by the police at Orr Lake in Simcoe County and brought, initially, to the Georgian Bay Hospital.”

The panel heard Nowaczek–Said had been “roaming the area around Orr Lake while nude, repeatedly going in and out of the water, and screaming about God, including that he was God.”

He was placed in “mechanical restraints” at some point “due to his level of agitation.”

When the restraints were removed, Nowaczek–Said punched a camera.

“Multiple staff members and security personnel were required to contain him during what is recorded as a ‘very agitated outburst.’ Mr. Nowaczek-Said was placed back in mechanical restraints and given two injections. A third medication was later administered when the first two medications did not settle him.”

On June 4, he was moved to the Waypoint Centre for Mental Health Care but discharged on June 8 after contesting his admission.

“He declined to remain in hospital longer or to further optimize his medication.”

Nowaczek-Said “clearly represents a significant threat to the safety of the public,” said the ORB decision.

“The evidence compels a finding that absent the board’s oversight, there is a real risk that he would engage in criminal conduct that would result in serious physical and/or psychological harm.”

The panel determined that a “detention order is necessary and appropriate.”

“When unwell, his mental state can fluctuate drastically, and he can superficially present as better than his actual mental state. Absent rapid interventions, this instability can deteriorate quite abruptly into acutely aggressive and agitated behaviours that pose a serious risk of violence to others.”

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