Cannabis-smoking Ontario stabber gets day passes despite ‘significant threat’

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.”

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.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.

He lived with his parents until the February 2023 stabbing.

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

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

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

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.

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.”

Ghawar had been treated by a psychiatrist for anxiety and depression since 2012, according to his hospital report.

“In April 2014, Mr. Ghawar stopped taking his antipsychotic 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. The parents advised that they did not see anything in his behaviour to suggest he was capable of assaulting anyone on the day of the index offence in May 2014.”

Ghawar has a criminal record that includes assault, mischief, break and enter and assault with a weapon.

A September 2023 psychological assessment indicated Ghawar “expressed delusional thought content, such as the victim of the index offence was ‘selling bad cannabis to kids in order to draw them into sex trafficking,” said the ORB decision.

“The conclusions from the assessment were that Mr. Ghawar has limited intellectual abilities and experiences significant impairment in neurocognitive functioning which is likely the result of his mental illness and substance use.”

When he was examined after his latest stabbing, Ghawar “acknowledged longstanding auditory hallucinations, and displayed indicia of paranoia and grandiose delusions. Mr. Ghawar also acknowledged that he had stopped taking his medication prior to the index offence and was smoking marijuana.”

Ghawar “has remained mentally stable the past couple of years,” said the ORB decision.

“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.”

Ghawar’s urine tested positive for pot on April 12, 2025. He denied it, suggesting a cigarette had been laced with cannabis.

He tested positive again for cannabis use twice last December.

“He again denied using cannabis, and suggested that the positive result was from others smoking cannabis around him,” said the decision, which notes staff detected “a strong odor of cannabis coming from his jacket” this past February and found what appeared to be pot in his pocket.

Ghawar suggested someone must have placed it there, said the decision.

“Mr. Ghawar used cannabis as recently as July 6, 2026.”

His “persistent use of cannabis is a significant risk factor,” said the ORB decision.

“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.”

Ghawar visits his family regularly, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready to move back in with them, said the decision, which notes he was living with them at the time of both stabbings.

According to his psychiatrist, Ghawar’s “insight into his psychotic symptoms, the need for treatment, the effects of cannabis use, and his risk for violence is limited.”

Meanwhile, Ghawar’s parents want to take him to Pakistan to get married.

“This would be an arranged marriage to a woman he has not met,” said the ORB decision, which notes 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.”