MANDEL: Killer of legal receptionist already discharged into community from CAMH
· Toronto Sun
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Just two years after being found not criminally responsible for the fatal stabbing of downtown law firm receptionist Julia Ferguson, Osman Osman is already out of a Toronto mental health hospital and living in supervised housing.
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And even more disturbing, his discharge into the community came in May, just two months after CAMH reported Osman had “breakthrough” psychotic symptoms and his behaviour became erratic because, they “suspected,” his injectable meds had worn off too soon.
“I feel physically sick,” says Ferguson’s best friend, Lisa Slonetsky, 33. “I’m scared for the community. I think he’s a violent, evil individual when he’s not medicated.”
According to Osman’s latest disposition by the Ontario Review Board, the man diagnosed with schizophrenia remains a significant threat to the public but can continue to live in a community residence with 24-hour supervision.
And we just have to hope he remains medicated.
On Aug. 4, 2021, Osman, 33, contacted the Hicks Adams law firm seeking legal help but he hadn’t been charged with a crime. On Aug. 30, he began sending threatening and harassing messages to the firm’s receptionist, a beautiful, funny 29-year-old from London, Ont.
He called her a “b—h” and told Ferguson to stop contacting him.
Over the following days, he sent many threatening messages to others in the firm and left a chilling one for Ferguson: “Don’t make me come down there or look out. If I come down there, I’m going to stab you and cut you open.”
Stabbed Ferguson in chest
At 1:47 p.m. on Sept. 2, 2021, an agitated Osman arrived at the firm. When Ferguson asked him to leave, he took a knife from his backpack and repeatedly stabbed her in the chest, one blow piercing her heart.
“I got a phone call saying Jules was stabbed and it’s not looking good,” her best friend recalled.
Slonetsky rushed to the hospital where she got to hold her hand and say goodbye to a “one in a million person.”
Her killer had been a disaster waiting to happen.
According to the ORB decision, the Somali-born Osman was hospitalized for psychiatric care, or visited emergency departments, at least eight times before killing Ferguson. In 2017, he was hospitalized at CAMH for three weeks after slapping his mother and calling police. He was prescribed a long-acting injectable antipsychotic medication but after two months, Osman successfully challenged his incapacity to make treatment decisions, and by December 2017, stopped taking medication.
In 2019, Osman was charged with assaulting duty counsel at College Park courts but the charge was withdrawn after he entered into mental health diversion.
He was hospitalized at CAMH again from July 31 to Aug. 21, 2019 as a condition of his bail after being arrested for a random assault on a woman. Following his discharge, Osman took the injectable antipsychotic medication for six months and then stopped again — with fatal results.
Found NCR of first-degree murder
In May 2024, Osman was found not criminally responsible of first-degree murder after court heard he’d been unmedicated for 18 months and was experiencing a psychotic episode.
In his most recent annual disposition — where Ferguson’s name is not even mentioned — his psychiatrist reported Osman is progressing well, looking for a job and still on a waitlist for individual therapy.
But given his decompensation in March, the doctor warned of the “fragility of his mental condition.” In an email, Osman had accused police of an overzealous persecution and referred to hyperbolic and false hearsay evidence at his preliminary hearing. He also dismissed his schizophrenia diagnosis as conjecture, and accused CAMH of gaslighting him.
In its decision, the ORB found Osman’s psychotic symptoms were likely due to the lengthy interval between his injections and he’d recently requested his medication be changed from every 11 weeks to monthly. “If this change is made, the Hospital would have to closely watch for any signs of a decline in his mental stability, and have the ability to readmit Mr. Osman to the Hospital rapidly.”
That doesn’t give her friend any comfort.
“It’s just too soon,” Slonetsky says of Osman’s discharge into the community. “It’s disappointing but I’m not shocked. Every step of this whole process has been a letdown. The system’s broken.
“They didn’t even mention her name. She’s been completely forgotten and she deserved so, so much more.”