Cambridge, Ont. mother who killed daughter not ready for release: report [Video]

A Cambridge woman who killed her daughter in 2020 will stay in a mental health hospital after a review board decided she is still a significant threat to the public.

Melissa Duff-Shore was originally charged with second-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old Kayla Duff.

Earlier this year, Duff-Shore was found not criminally responsible due to “reason of mental disorder” – specially, automatism.

Automatism is defined as a state of unconscious, involuntary behaviour.

Duff-Shore said she woke up in Sept. 2020 and found the body of her daughter in their Cambridge home. A postmortem found Kayla Duff had been stabbed at least 70 times.

A report from the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health in St. Thomas stated Duff-Shore still exhibits symptoms of the major mental illness that was a significant factor in the killing of her daughter.

A report released this month by the Ontario Review Board found that …