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An Ontario man found not criminally responsible twice for stabbing two people in the back multiple times in the span of a decade has been granted a series of day passes even though he’s still deemed a “significant threat to the safety of the public.”

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Muneeb Ali Ghawar — who has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder “in remission in a controlled environment” — was found not criminally responsible (NCR) in February 2024 for aggravated assault and wearing a disguise in his latest stabbing attack one year previous at a cannabis store in Hamilton.

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The Ontario Review Board (ORB) heard Ghawar walked into Sweet Releaf Cannabis around midday on Feb. 3, 2023, wearing a mask and a trapper hat pulled down low. When a female clerk moved to ring up the weed he asked for, Ghawar got behind her.

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“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,” said a recent decision from the independent tribunal that regularly reviews the status of individuals found not criminally responsible due to mental disorder.

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When another employee screamed and went to call 911, Ghawar ran from the store. Detectives later identified Ghawar using surveillance video from his previous visit to the cannabis operation when he wasn’t wearing a mask. He was arrested six days after the stabbing.

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Ghawar has been experiencing mental health symptoms for many years, and he is now under the jurisdiction of the review board for a second time, said the Aug. 28 ORB decision.

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The first time he was declared NCR was for a 2014 attack in which he stabbed an acquaintance five times in the back and torso. He remained in hospital until March 2016, when he was discharged to live with his family.

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“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,” the ORB ruling said.

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He lived with his parents until the February 2023 stabbing.

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Ghawar reported that he started using cannabis at the age of 15, stopped for a time, then started again in August 2019.

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“He resumed using cannabis during the time he was living with his parents,” said the ORB decision.

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Ghawar was ordered detained last year at St. Joseph’s Healthcare, with privileges allowing him to enter the community of Hamilton under indirect supervision.

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Indirect supervision means the patient agrees to periodically check in with the hospital and a designated person on the clinical team knows the patient’s whereabouts at all times.

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At his most recent ORB hearing, 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.”