Ontario Review Board
Re: Eddie Munoz
ORB File No: 7298
Hearing held on: Thursday, March 6, 2025
Place of hearing: Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care 401 Sunset Drive, St. Thomas
Pursuant to: Section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code
Before: Alternate Chairperson: Mr. J. Weinstein Members: Dr. R.D. Chandrasena Dr. B. Sheppard Ms. K. Tomaszewski Ms. C. Plyley
Parties Appearing: Accused: Eddie Munoz Counsel: Ms. N.C. Circelli
The person in charge of hospital: Counsel: Ms. J. Zamprogna
Attorney General of Ontario: Counsel: Ms. K. Dalrymple
REASONS FOR DISPOSITION
(Dated April 14, 2025)
Introduction:
On January 31, 2018, Mr. Eddie Munoz was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder, on charges of assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm, forcible confinement, and forcible entry, all contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada (“Criminal Code”).
Mr. Munoz is subject to a Disposition of the Ontario Review Board (the “Board”), dated March 26, 2024, which orders that he be detained at the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care, St. Joseph's Health Care London (“Southwest”).
On March 6, 2025, the Board convened a hearing at Southwest to conduct the annual review of the current Disposition.
Mr. Munoz was present and was represented by his counsel, Ms. Circelli.
A Hospital Report, dated January 7, 2025 (the "Hospital Report"), was entered as Exhibit 1.
The issue at this hearing is whether Mr. Munoz is a significant threat to public safety, as defined in s. 672.5401 of the Criminal Code. If so, the necessary and appropriate Disposition in the circumstances must be determined, bearing in mind the factors enunciated in s. 672.54 of the Criminal Code.
For the reasons set out below and based on the expert evidence and opinions before it, the Board concluded that Mr. Munoz continues to present a significant threat to the safety of the public. The Board ordered that the necessary and appropriate Disposition in the circumstances is a continuation of the existing Detention Order.
Current Psychiatric Diagnoses:
- Schizophrenia, Chronic and Refractory Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Index Offences:
- The circumstances giving rise to the Index Offences are extracted from last year’s Board Reasons, as follows:
“In 2016 Mr. Munoz was being treated at Parkwood Mental Health Centre in London with injectable antipsychotics. Injections were administered monthly from August through November at which point he stopped attending the clinic. Mr. Munoz’s mental health nurse attempted to look for him in the community, to no avail. He had been deemed incapable of consenting to treatment and his mother was his substitute decision maker. She was contacted and informed of the situation. However, he was not living at his mother’s home at the time. It appears that Mr. Munoz resented his mother’s role in his mental health treatment and was frustrated by his inability to obtain information about his illness on his own. In his decompensated state, he resolved to take his mother’s life.
On February 1, 2017, Mr. Munoz viciously attacked his mother with a crossbow and arrows at her home. Fortunately, she survived the attack.”
- Mr. Munoz’s history and background are outlined in the Hospital Report, and they are summarized in last year’s Reasons:
“He is single with no dependents. Mr. Munoz was born in Colombia and immigrated to Canada in 1998, at the age of nine. The relationship between his parents ended when his mother became pregnant. Mr. Munoz’s mother emigrated to Canada when Mr. Munoz was four years old. Mr. Munoz remained in Colombia with his grandmother until