An Ontario senior found not criminally responsible for attacking three housemates with a hammer before he tried to punch a police officer and kicked a nurse in the face has been discharged.

James Harding, 73, appeared recently in front of the Ontario Review Board at the Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences in Whitby, Ont., where he was a patient until he was released into the community in May 2023.

“The panel found that Mr. Harding remains a significant threat to the safety of the public and the necessary and appropriate disposition to manage that risk is a discharge with … conditions,” said the decision discharging Harding on the condition that he consents to treatment for his schizoaffective and substance use disorders, and keeps living at a facility that’s staffed 24 hours a day.

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