Re: Oday Odeh
ORB File No: 7063
Hearing held on: Monday June 9, 2025
Place of Hearing: St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton
Pursuant to: Section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code
Before:
Alternate Chairperson: Mr. R. Bigelow
Members: Ms. L. Maunder Dr. P. Darby Dr. G. Stones Mr. A. Mete
Parties Appearing:
Accused: Oday Odeh Counsel: Mr. P. Boushy
The Person in Charge of Hospital: Counsel: Mr. S. O’Brien
Attorney General of Ontario: Counsel: Ms. J. McKenzie
REASONS FOR DISPOSITION (Dated July 23, 2025)
Introduction
On November 10, 2016, Odeh Oday was found not criminally responsible (NCR) on a charge of attempted murder contrary to the Criminal Code. Mr. Odeh is currently subject to a disposition of the Ontario Review Board (the Board) dated June 17, 2024, ordering his detention at the Forensic Psychiatry Program of St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton with privileges up to and including residence in the community in accommodation approved by the person in charge.
On Monday, June 9, 2025, the Board convened a hearing to review Mr. Odeh`s disposition pursuant to section 672.81(1) of the Criminal Code. Mr. Odeh was present and represented by counsel, Mr. Boushy. Mr. Odeh’s mother and father were also present along with an Arabic interpreter to assist them.
The issues to be determined at the hearing were whether Mr. Odeh continued to constitute a significant threat to the safety of the public as defined in section 672.5401 of the Criminal Code and, if so, what was the necessary and appropriate disposition that was also the least onerous and least restrictive taking into account the factors set out in 672.54 of the Criminal Code.
Initial Positions of the Parties
At the commencement of the hearing the parties were requested to provide their initial without prejudice positions with respect to the issues before the Board. Counsel for the Hospital indicated that it was the Hospital’s position that Mr. Odeh continued to represent a significant threat to the safety of the public and that the necessary and appropriate disposition was a discharge on the conditions set out at pages 53 and 54 of the Hospital report.
Counsel for the Attorney General that she wished to reserve her position pending hearing the evidence.
Counsel for Mr. Odeh supported the Hospital recommendation.
Evidence at the hearing
- The evidence at the hearing consisted of the Hospital Report dated May 22, 2025, and the oral evidence of Dr. O. Lee, a sixth-year psychiatric resident working under the supervision of Dr. Kolawole, Mr. Odeh’s treating psychiatrist who was also present at the hearing.
Findings:
- For the Reasons that follow, the Board finds that Mr. Odeh continues to represent a significant threat to the safety of the public and that the necessary and appropriate disposition is a discharge under conditions recommended by the hospital with a slight change in the residence condition to require that Mr. Odeh reside at a residence known to the person in charge.
Index Offences:
- The circumstances surrounding the index offence as summarized in last year’s Reasons for Disposition are as follows:
The victim [MH] resides in the City of Hamilton. On Friday May 13th 2016, an acquaintance of [MH]’s, Oday Odeh attended the residence. A disturbance broke out at approximately 09:58 hrs between [MH] and Oday Odeh. Oday Odeh stabbed [MH] multiple times in the 5th floor hallway of 155 Market Street, resulting in life threatening injuries.
[MH] was transported to the Hamilton General Hospital where he underwent surgery for the following injuries: stab wounds to his mouth, tongue, and throat, cut trachea, cut to the back of neck, cut to right bicep, right tricep, right tricep nearly severed off, and multiple other stab wounds to arms and remainder of body.
Oday Odeh fled the scene. Oday Odeh was located in the area of John Street North and Rebecca Street. Oday Odeh had a laceration to his right hand and made an utterance “I did it. I killed him before he could kill me.” Oday Odeh was arrested and transported to St. Joseph's Hospital for medical treatment. The knife used by Oday Odeh in the stabbing was located by Police in a recycling receptacle in the alleyway of 111 Market Street.
Background Information Regarding the Accused:
Mr. Odeh is currently 34 years of age and second oldest in a sibline of seven children. He was born and raised in Amman Jordan. He completed elementary school and high school in Amman and then went on to complete a two-year diploma in business administration at the Jordanian Canadian College. He excelled academically in that program and on completion he was accepted to transfer to Niagara College in Canada. He obtained a student visa and came to Hamilton with the intention of studying business administration at Niagara College in 2013 but due to its location he chose not to attend Niagara College and enrolled in English as a second language at Mohawk College in Hamilton. He stopped attending Mohawk College after one semester due to the level of difficulty and commenced taking English as a second language courses at a private school in Burlington but also stopped attending due to the level of difficulty. He reports that he had not attended any form of school for over a year prior to the index offence.
Mr. Odeh’s student visa expired in February 2015, and he subsequently applied for refugee status which was denied. Mr. Odeh’s family supported him financially until January 2016 when they informed him that he would have to find a way to support himself. However, in the 2023 – 2024 reporting year his immigration status was upgraded to “protected person”, and he has applied for permanent residence and is awaiting the result of that application.
Mr. Odeh’s mother, younger brother, younger sister and more recently, his father now live in Canada. His parents are a significant source of support, and his mother is an approved person.
Substance Use History
- Mr. Odeh has reported that he began using marijuana upon his arrival in Canada in March 2013 however he has also reported that he was using marijuana while he was living in Jordan and that his use increased when he came to Canada using up to 7 g per day. He has also indicated that he has tried cocaine but did not use it frequently.
Legal History:
- On March 23, 2016, Mr. Odeh was charged with uttering threats. The status of that matter is unclear.
Psychiatric History
- Mr. Odeh’s mother reports that in late 2015 her son’s behaviour changed noticeably. He began to call at all hours and to express bizarre and delusional and paranoid thoughts. In March 2016 Mr. Odeh was taken to hospital by police after allegedly destroying light fixtures and punching holes in the walls of his apartment looking for cameras which he believed were hidden as well as allegedly threatening his female roommate. He remained in hospital for approximately two weeks and reported that he was hearing voices and believed he was being watched by the government. He also believed that a transmitter had been implanted at the base of his skull. He improved after commencing medication and was discharged from hospital. He was unable to return to his former housing due to a noncontact order with his former roommate. He moved in with a friend (the victim of the index offence) and ceased taking medication. The index offence took place approximately five weeks after his discharge.
Current Diagnosis
- Mr. Odeh’s current diagnoses are schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder – in remission.
Evidence of Dr. Lee
Dr. Lee indicated that she had been involved in Mr. Odeh’s treatment since March 2025 and had reviewed and adopted the contents of the Hospital Report. She noted that Mr. Odeh had a relatively stable year and continued to reside at Emmaus House, a residence with 24/7 staffing. He had no positive urine drug screens over the reporting year, and he meets with the outpatient team weekly and with staff at his residence weekly. Since April 2025 Mr. Odeh has been responsible for taking his medication although he does contact staff at the residence to confirm that he has taken this medication.
Dr. Lee noted that Mr. Odeh’s mental health continues to be affected by stress. In October 2024 he experienced anxiety after his parents initiated a conversation regarding finding a romantic partner and said they were considering an arranged marriage. This led to a recurrence of previous delusional beliefs including that he has a child with a recreational therapist at the Hospital and that Dr. Kolawole is a prophet.
Dr. Lee indicated that although Mr. Odeh had maintained abstinence from substances for a significant period of time, he has indicated that when granted an absolute discharge he may return to the use of substances which supports the conclusion that in his insight into the effect of substances on his mental health is limited.
Dr. Lee also indicated that Mr. Odeh’s insight into his mental illness and the importance of medication to his mental well-being is superficial and referred to the Hospital Report at page 52 where a Psychological Risk Assessment describes his insight as follows:
He acknowledged that he is diagnosed with Schizophrenia but when describing symptoms, it was unclear whether was listing symptoms that he had personally experienced or rather, was identifying symptoms he knew were associated with Schizophrenia, such as “hearing things, seeing things, having delusions.” When attempts were made to canvass this further, Mr. Odeh asserted that he does not experience symptoms because the medication helps. When asked what he thought would happen if he stopped taking his medications, Mr. Odeh stated “don’t know what will happen if go off medications.” He then asserted that he would not know as long as he was in the forensic system, seemingly suggesting that he would stop his medications once awarded an absolute discharge.
By way of update, Dr. Lee noted that a few days before the hearing Mr. Odeh was offered a placement at a more independent residence with staffing weekdays from 9 AM to 9 PM and on weekends from 10 AM to 6 PM. She also noted that staff at this residence do not monitor medication and do not provide a level of supervision similar to his current residence. The treatment team was supportive of Mr. Odeh’s move to this new residence which would provide him with opportunities to develop his independence while continuing to have a level of monitoring.
In response to questions from counsel for the Attorney General, Dr. Lee indicated that the new residence would be available to Mr. Odeh whether he was on a detention order or a conditional discharge disposition. She also agreed that the move to a new residence would be a stressor but that the treatment team believes that with all of the supports available to him, the move will not have a significant impact on his mental health. She noted in particular that Mr. Odeh is very respectful of authority, has a particularly positive relationship with Dr. Kolawole, and his family has a positive relationship with the treatment team.
Dr. Lee also stated that in her opinion, the provisions of the Mental Health Act would be sufficient to monitor risk.
Final Positions of the Parties
At the conclusion of the hearing counsel for the Attorney General advised that although she continued to have some concerns with respect to the hospital recommendations, she was satisfied that the evidence before the Board supported the recommendations and indicated that she was joining the other parties in those recommendations.
Counsel for the Hospital indicated that given the new information with respect to a potential change in Mr. Odeh’s residence, the recommendation for a term requiring him to reside as his current address was no longer appropriate and he suggested that the term be replaced with a term requiring him to reside at a place “known to the person in charge”. Counsel for the Attorney General and Counsel for Mr. Odeh supported that change.
Analysis and Conclusion, Significant Threat:
Although the issue of significant threat was not contested at the hearing, the Board nevertheless makes an independent finding that Mr. Odeh does represent a significant threat to the safety public. He suffers from a major mental illness, schizophrenia, as well as cannabis use disorder and his mental health remains fragile, recently experiencing a return of some of the symptoms of his illness despite adherence to medication and abstinence from substance use. The Index Offence involved an extremely serious level of violence and the use of weapons resulting in life-threatening injuries to the victim. He displays limited insight into his illness, the impact of substance use on his mental health and the importance of medication to his mental health. Absent the oversight of the Board and the treatment team there is a significant likelihood that Mr. Odeh would move away from psychiatric follow-up, discontinue medication and resume consuming substances resulting in a significant risk to the public.
The Hospital Report summarizes Mr. Odeh’s risk to act out aggressively with which the panel agrees, as follows:
When all factors are considered on the HCR-20 v3, it is opined that Mr. Odeh’s risk to act out violently falls in the low to low-moderate range under his current disposition (Detention Order) or if awarded a Conditional Discharge. With respect to the latter, it is likely that the mental health act would provide sufficient protection to address Mr. Odeh’s risk status should concerns about his mental status and/or behaviour emerge. Mr. Odeh’s risk to act out violently would be high if he was awarded an Absolute Discharge.
Analysis and Conclusion, Necessary and Appropriate Disposition:
- The Board finds that the evidence also amply supports the joint submission that the necessary and appropriate disposition is a discharge on conditions with the only change to the terms being the amendment of the residence term to require that he reside at a residence “known to the person in charge.” Mr. Odeh has now been in the community for two years without significant incidents. He has been cooperative with the treatment team and the staff at his residence, adherent to medication and abstinent from substances. The Board is satisfied that the provisions of the Mental Health Act are sufficient to manage risk.
DATED this 23rd day of July 2025, at the City of Toronto, in the Toronto Region.
Robert Bigelow
Alternate Chairperson
Office of the Registrar
Ontario Review Board