AWOL AGAIN: Dangerous CAMH detainee disappears for fourth time in two years

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For the fourth time in less than two years, a dangerous CAMH patient has gone AWOL.

Toronto Police say Tesfaye Asefa, 41, was last seen around 1:10 p.m. on Thursday near Queen St. W. and Ossington Ave. — where the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health is located.

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“In April 2011, he was found not criminally responsible for two counts of sexual assault,” Const. David Hopkinson said in a statement released Thursday, explaining the 41-year-old man is currently bound by a Form 49 “warrant of committal.”

“If located, do not approach,” he added, urging anyone who spots Asefa to call 911 immediately.

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Asefa first disappeared from CAMH in August 2018. He vanished again in May of 2019. Then he disappeared again in January for about two weeks before he was located.

CAMH made headlines repeatedly last year as a steady stream of patients went missing — including some high-profile patients such as Zhebin Cong, who was found not criminally responsible for the 2014 killing of his roommate with a meat cleaver, escaped from the hospital in July while on an unescorted pass and managed to flee to China.

CAMH vowed in December, 2019, to implement a dozen recommendations made by an external panel that conducted a review of the psychiatric facility.

At the time, CAMH President Catherine Zahn said the hospital would build new infrastructure, change its system of patient passes, communicate more often with police and build an outdoor area enclosed by fences.

Barely a month later, on Jan. 27, Asefa disappeared for the third time during being admitted to CAMH. He was located near Adelaide and Shaw Sts. on Feb. 9.

Now he’s vanished again.

Asefa is described as 5-foot-7, 194 pounds, with a medium build, short black hair and a short beard. He was last seen wearing blue jeans, a red multi-coloured plaid short-sleeve shirt and burgundy shoes.

Anyone with information regarding the missing man’s whereabouts is urged to call police at 416-808-1400 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

cdoucette@postmedia.com