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Searchers fail to find man missing from mental-health facility, police investigate tips

A search of Mount Douglas Park for a man with schizophrenia who walked away from a Saanich mental health facility on Nov. 6 has concluded unsuccessfully.
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Sean Hart has been missing since Nov. 6, when he left his mental-health facility on Blenkinsop Road. SAANICH POLICE

A search of Mount Douglas Park for a man with schizophrenia who walked away from a Saanich mental health facility on Nov. 6 has concluded unsuccessfully.

Sean Hart, 34, left the Seven Oaks Tertiary Mental Health Facility on Blenkinsop Road three weeks ago and has not been seen since.

On Thursday, his mother, Penny Hart, made a public appeal for help in finding Sean, saying without his medication, he would be manic, hallucinating, hearing voices and acting erratically.

Hart, who has been plastering a missing poster of her son all over Greater Victoria, said Sean typically takes off his shoes and walks for miles into the woods. He likes to be on his own and is unlikely to be staying in a tent city or shelter, she said.

On Thursday, Peninsula Search and Rescue Team began a methodical search in and around Seven Oaks and nearby Mount Douglas Park.

Saanich police are continuing their search for Sean.

Penny Hart’s appeal generated a lot of calls to police, said Const. Markus Anastasiades. “And we are processing and investigating each of them.”

ldickson@timescolonist.com