Senior with mental health issues denied bail after phony phone calls to 911

A mentally troubled senior found guilty of making hundreds of phone calls to emergency response services for crises that didn’t exist is back in custody as justice officials continue to grapple with how to provide her the care she needs.

“If a person who has to make a decision in this particular case possessed the wisdom of Solomon, I’m afraid they would still be stumped,” provincial court Judge Malcolm McDonald said before denying the 73-year-old woman bail.

“There simply (aren’t) resources to help her and, unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be resources available to prevent the palpable concern for public safety that this continued behaviour on her part presents,” McDonald said.

The woman remains in custody. Her next court date is Oct. 24.

The woman was taken into custody Aug. 23 after several alleged breaches of a probation order that required she not contact emergency service providers except in the case of a real emergency.

Court was told in the last incident, the woman called 911 claiming to be suicidal and when paramedics arrived at her Stradbrook Avenue home pretended to be unresponsive. Paramedics had placed the woman on a stretcher and were preparing to take her to hospital when she sat up, raised a middle finger and refused to be transported.

A prior forensic assessment found the woman is at times genuinely suicidal, lives with borderline personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder and that there is “some dementia at play,” defence lawyer Julia Mann told court in August.

Mann said the woman didn’t qualify for acceptance into the mental health court program and there were no psychiatric hospital beds available that would allow for her to undergo a long-term assessment.

“This is a particularly challenging situation,” Mann said. “I am, candidly, at a loss what to do… She is someone who physically and mentally does not belong in custody. Jail is not a substitute or an alternative for social programming. She needs help, serious help.”

“I am, candidly, at a loss what to do… She is someone who physically and mentally does not belong in custody.”

McDonald denied the woman bail on Aug. 25 on the grounds she would be a high risk to reoffend if released to the community.

“It is well known that emergency services in the city are strained” he said. “We have someone who persistently contacts emergency services when there isn’t a genuine medical emergency… that raises a public safety concern.”

In August 2024, the woman pleaded guilty to one count each of making harassing phone calls and sending false messages and was sentenced to two years supervised probation.

Court heard between August 2022 and February 2023 the woman called 911 nearly 350 times and placed another 60 calls to Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Services.

“The overwhelming calls were always unfounded and she refused service once emergency services attended,” Crown attorney David Burland told provincial court Judge Dale Harvey at the time. “There were numerous additional calls where (emergency service providers) were fairly certain it was her, but she did not leave her name.”

From mid-2022 to 2023, the woman went to hospital emergency rooms 137 times.

“There was never anything wrong with her,” Burland said.

The woman also placed numerous calls to suicide crisis lines, but would refuse services when emergency responders arrived at her home.

The woman was back in custody less than two months later, accused of breaching her no-contact condition within three days of her release.

Court heard at her February sentencing hearing that she had made repeated calls to Health Links and suicide crisis lines claiming she had taken an overdose of Tylenol.

Harvey sentenced her to the equivalent of six months time served.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca