Judged 'Not Criminally Responsible', Yet a Community Threat

Hamilton Police

"He pulled out a knife and began stabbing her with it in the back. She was stabbed upwards of seven times and suffered a severed bicep and collapsed lung amongst other injuries."

"He resumed using cannabis during the time he was living with his parents."

"[The panel] concluded that Mr. Ghawar remained a significant threat to the safety of the public and that a detention order was necessary and appropriate. With respect to the additional privileges suggested by the hospital, the panel determined that it was appropriate to include in the disposition seven-day passes accompanied by an approved person, and seven-day passes indirectly supervised with a pre-approved itinerary."

Ontario Review Board (ORB)  

"In April 2014, Mr. Ghawar stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication, and his mental health symptoms intensified almost immediately."

"According to his family, Mr. Ghawar became very anxious and irritable, and would refuse to leave the house alone."

Hospital Report  

This is an Ontario resident who twice stabbed people multiple times in the back, and subsequently found not criminally responsible, which led to his being granted a series of day passes, despite the fact that he remains, in the professional opinion of health experts, a "significant threat to the safety of the public". 

 

Diagnosed with schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder "in remission in a controlled environment", Muneeb Ali Ghawar was found in February of 2024 to be not criminally responsible for aggravated assault while wearing a disguise. The second episode where he stabbed a woman took place in 2023, at a Hamilton cannabis store. 

 

He had entered the Sweet Releaf Cannabis shop on February 3, 2023 wearing a mask and a trapper hat pulled down over his forehead. A female clerk began the process of ringing up his cannabis purchase, and while she was thus engaged, the man moved behind her, and withdrawing a knife, stabbed her back repeatedly. Ghawar ran from the store when another employee screamed and called 911. 

 

Lighting up a marijuana joint. Photo by Adobe Stock

 

Ghawar was identified through studying the surveillance video at the cannabis operation where he had appeared on a previous occasion, unmasked. Six days following the stabbing he was arrested. He is now under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Review Board for a second time. He had been declared 'not criminally responsible' for a similar attack nine years previously, when an acquaintance was stabbed in the back and torso by him. He was hospitalized in a psychiatric ward for two years then discharged to live with his family.   

"Mr. Ghawar was compliant with his medication, met consistently with the outpatient team, and maintained stable mental health. He was granted an absolute discharge on February 11, 2019."

"There has been no evidence of mood disorders or psychotic breakthrough. He engages appropriately with co-patients and staff and is always pleasant and polite during interactions."

"His persistent use of cannabis is a  significant risk factor."

"He was using cannabis at the time of the first index offence in 2014, and at the time of the current index offence in 2023. He became extremely psychotic and committed very violent offences that could have resulted in the death of either victim."

Ontario Review Board ruling  

Mental health symptoms had afflicted the man for years. He began the use of cannabis at age 15. In 2024 he was ordered to be placed at St. Joseph's Healthcare where he was given privileges whereby he could enter the community of Hamilton under indirect supervision. He has been treated for anxiety and depression since 2012 by a psychiatrist. He also has amassed a criminal record including assault, mischief, break-and-enter, and assault with a weapon.

 

A psychological assessment in 2023 revealed that Ghawar "expressed delusional thought content, such as that the victim of the index offence was selling bad cannabis to kids in order to draw them into sex trafficking", the ORB decision noted. Ghawar admitted long-standing auditory hallucinations, and that he had stopped taking his medication prior to the offence, while smoking marijuana. 

 

Sweet Releafs Inc.

 

"He again denied using cannabis, and suggested that the positive urine result was from others smoking cannabis around him", noted the ORB decision. And this is the man his parents plan to take to Pakistan to have him married there. "This would be an arranged marriage to a woman he has not met", even while his psychiatrist "expressed concern that bringing another person into the family home would increase the stress at a time when Mr. Ghawar is struggling with cannabis use".  

 

Dangerously Psychotic Yet He Lives Free To Reoffend

"He reported not having consumed alcohol beforehand but did use crystal methamphetamine, along with two or three joints of cannabis."

"He reported hearing voices both with and without the use of crystal methamphetamine, but they became worse when he used the substance."

"Counsel for all parties agreed that Mr. Pillar represented a significant threat to public safety [and that his ban on] the non-medical use of alcohol or other intoxicating substances [should be dropped]."

"[In the years before the stabbing he was the subject of] multiple Community Treatment Orders, during which Mr. Pillar continued to use drugs and alcohol and was non-compliant with his prescribed medication and appointments."

"The history also includes several attempts at mental health diversion for various criminal charges. His reported symptoms, when unwell, included command auditory hallucinations to kill both men and women, but chiefly women." 

Ontario Review Board

 

"In a significant legal decision, the Ontario Review Board lifted a drug ban for Richard P. Pillar, who was found not criminally responsible for a violent incident in Windsor. On September 28, 2016."

"At approximately 11 a.m., 83-year-old Rina Campagna was attacked and severely injured by Pillar near a bank."

"The attack, which occurred in Windsor, Ontario, left Campagna with the loss of an eye. Pillar, who suffers from multiple mental health disorders, was under the influence of drugs at the time."

UL Lawyers Professional Corporation 

Photograph of assaulted 83-year-old woman being taken to hospital by paramedics. Photo: Postmedia

 

Found not criminally responsible after stabbing an 83-year-old stranger in the eye, an Ontario man has had his drug ban lifted, despite that he had used crystal methamphetamine and smoked two or three joints of cannabis beforehand. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, social anxiety disorder and substance use disorder, Richard P. Pillar, with his anti-social personality disorder and borderline intellectual functioning was found, at trial, not criminally responsible of aggravated assault after his attack on Rina Campagna.

 

Walking unaccompanied to a Windsor bank on September 28, 2016, the elderly woman was accosted by Pillar from behind, and brought to the ground. Her assailant took hold of the woman's head and with a knife, stabbed one of her eyes. Ms. Campagna was left with severe injuries that included loss of the injured eye, pointed out the independent tribunal tasked with reviewing the status of individuals found not criminally responsible for violent crimes they commit. 

 

Witnesses at the scene recounted seeing Pillar discarding his clothing as he fled the area. An arrest took place within the day. Pillar had been bound by two probation orders which prohibited him from weapons possession, at the time of the attack on the woman. Neither victim nor attacker were known to one another. Pillar informed authorities that he deliberately withheld taking his antipsychotic injection two weeks previous to the attack. "He wanted to see what it was like if he did not take the medication", the ORB decision noted. 

 

In this Sept. 28, 2016, file photo, Windsor police, paramedic and fire emergency response crews converge in the 1300 block of Ottawa Street following a brutal stabbing attack on an elderly woman. Photo by Jason Kryk /Windsor Star

 

"I no longer feel safe and secure doing my daily routine like shopping, visiting people or going to church."

"[I've missed important family events], because I thought I looked like a monster. I don’t feel good about myself anymore."

"I say no to a lot of friends asking me to come over because I am afraid to walk alone and I have a hard time talking in a group back and forth with one eye and double vision."

"And I am so scared that if he ever gets out he might come back to attack me again."

Victim Impact Statement, Rina Campagna  

The day previous to Pillar's attack on Ms. Campagna he had made a failed effort  to attack another pedestrian, but his aim was deflected. He was given a discharge by the ORB in March of 2025 with conditions attached, that he report to a  hospital at least twice monthly, "abstain from intoxicants, submit samples for analysis [and] refrain from the possession of weapons". At the time Pillar had lived for four years in the community with no recorded hospital readmissions.

 

Now 37, Pillar lives alone in a subsidized one-bedroom apartment in St. Thomas, Ontario. The psychiatric medical team that has been overseeing his conditions advised the Review Board that they're in the process of preparing Pillar to be discharged from the forensic system, and recommends a removal of the 'abstain' clause from his disposition. 

 

Mental health issues and criminal behaviour marked Pillar's early life, beginning when he started using alcohol at age nine, cannabis at age 11, cocaine at age 14, and crystal methamphetamine at age 25. In April 2017, in pretrial detention, he struck a correctional officer, stating that voices instructed him to hit correctional staff. Months following his hospital admission as a result of the stabbing, he attacked a nursing station where a female staff member had retreated when he became angry.  

 

Police investigate area on Ottawa Street where Richard Pillar stabbed an 83 year-old woman in 2016. (CBC File)

 

"He ... continued to fixate on the [female medical] staff member, stating that he wanted to kill her. He also threatened to stab someone in the eye and kill them if he gained weight from his injection of antipsychotic medication."

"He was placed in seclusion and later tried to grab a female staff member through an opening in the seclusion room door."

"[A resurgence of symptoms], resulting from medication ineffectiveness of non-adherence, substance use, or all three, is likely to have very serious consequences."

"That history, including but not limited to the index offences, involves acting on command hallucinations directing him to harm or kill people."

Ontario Review Board 

The Lopsided Scales of Justice in Canada

"[Al Jalmoud] did not at this time have a valid driver's licence nor had he ever driven a vehicle in Canada since his arrival in 2018." 

"[Police observed the Ford Escape] swerving in and out of lanes and repeatedly increasing/decreasing the rate of speed [prior to the deadly crash]"

"The police officers at this time got out of their unmarked [white minivan] in uniform, to check on the driver based on their concerns that he might be distracted or impaired. As the police officers stepped out of their vehicle Mr. Al Jalmoud took off in the Escape." 

Ontario Review Board 

John William Wignall, 57, (left) and Ryan Valentim, 38, were killed in the crash on Sept. 25, 2022. Photo by Hamilton Police // Family handout

 

 Mouhamad Al Jalmoud, a 20-year-old Syrian refugee, drove a black Ford Escape in September 2022 that collided with a Hyundai Sonata, in Hamilton. That collision resulted in the death of two passengers of the Hyundai, while seriously injuring its driver. This lethal accident derived from a chain of events when two police officers stopped a driver who was steering his vehicle erratically, ignoring traffic rules including driving above the speed limit and as such, posing a danger both to himself and other drivers.

 

When Al Jalmoud was stopped by the police, he veered away and sped off, failing to stop for a red light and then collided with the Hyundai, when hit, was caused "to spin out of control". One man in the Hyundai was ejected from the rear window into a building, perishing at the scene. Another passenger was taken by paramedics to hospital where he was shortly afterward pronounced dead. "Very serious" injuries were suffered by the Hyundai driver.

 

Following the crash, Al Jalmoud "took off on foot leaving he scene", returning some time later when he collapsed and was taken to hospital. He was found by a jury in 2024 not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder, on three counts of failing to stop after the crash. Al Jalmoud was found guilty by the same jury on two counts of  dangerous driving causing death and one count of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. In March of 2025 he was sentenced by a judge to three years and three months in prison.

 

A Hamilton man has been arrested for impaired operation causing death after a collision where two people died late on Sunday night.  The Hammer

 

Al Jalmoud filed an appeal of both his conviction and the sentence, and after six months in custody he was released in September of 2025. "Those matters are before the court and outside our jurisdiction", stated the review board. During his release, Al Jalmoud is subject to several conditions, one of which permits him to leave home with his father in attendance. 

 

During Al Jalmoud's criminal trial, the jury heard that as a child he had "witnessed the horrors of the Syrian civil war, including bombings, airstrikes, killings in the street, mass and arbitrary arrests, and torture. He witnessed the effects of these horrors on his friends, neighbours and family. He was tortured himself. He developed a fear of police and military figures. The family fled to refugee camps in Lebanon, where they were mistreated." The Al Jalmoud family arrived in Canada as refugees, when Mouhamad was 16 years old. 

 

At his trial, two psychiatrists testified that Al Jalmoud "suffered from (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) on the evening of September 25, 2022, that the PTD led to a dissociative state triggered by Mr. Al Jalmoud's encounter with the police officers in the white minivan, and that Mr. Al Jalmoud was in a dissociative state  until he woke up in the hospital hours later." Both psychiatrists were in agreement and testified that "While he was capable of performing motor functions, he was not conscious or aware of what he was doing, either while driving away from the police or after the collision."

 

Both experts were "of the view that Mr. Al Jalmoud was not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder" for failing to stop at the crash scene. On the other hand, a psychiatrist who had earlier conducted a risk assessment on Al Jalmoud, testified before the Ontario Review Board that Al Jalmoud "does not have risk factors including having a major mental illness, anti-social traits or antisocial personality disorder or substance use that would enhance risk." 

 

The Special Investigations Unit is investigating after a crash killed two men on Sunday night. A 20-year-old man has been charged with impaired causing death. (David Ritchie)

 

The Review Board in interviewing the psychiatrist who assessed Al Jalmoud last year "was asked whether he agreed with the evidence at trial that the sound of the collision could have triggered PTSD. His response was that while anything was possible, the sound alone would not lead to a PTSD response to lead Mr. Al Jalmoud to flee the scene."

 

The decision from the Ontario Review Board was to find the Syrian refugee not criminally responsible for failing to stop at the accident he caused that killed two men, severely injuring a third, and has granted  him an absolute discharge.  Now 24, the Board was of the opinion that Al Jalmoud "exhibits pro-social values of family connection, no substance use and pro-social future goals". 

 

Free to go. 

 

As an adult, one who is capable of practicing free will, who is responsible for the untimely deaths of two innocent people and a life-changing injury of a third, if not this man? 

Do the crime, serve the time...

 

Surveillance footage of Al Jalmoud exiting the SUV after collision: Court exhibit

"He [initial psychiatric assessor] expressed that he would have come to a different conclusion than the two psychiatric assessors at trial; that this was a young man who made an unbelievably unwise decision to drive, given his skill set, and panicked when he saw the police, knowing he was driving without a licence and possibly without knowing how to drive."

"He accelerated, colliding with another vehicle, panicked, took off and  came back."

"[However, he] gave clear evidence that Mr. Al Jalmoud ... does not at this time pose a significant threat to the safety of the public."

Ontario Review Board