Reasons for Sentence
Court File No.: CR-23-7-0000069-0000
Date: 2025-05-30
Ontario Superior Court of Justice
Between:
His Majesty the King
and
Hugo Munoz
Appearances:
Anna Leggett and Amanda Nash for the Crown
Christopher Hicks and David Walia for Mr. Munoz
Heard: May 23, 2025
Released: May 30, 2025
Corrick
Overview
[1] Cindy Coffey made plans to meet her son, Michael, on April 4, 2021 at 5:00 p.m., at the Davisville subway station. From there, they were going to go to Michael’s for dinner. Ms. Coffey never arrived. Instead, she lay dead on her bedroom floor having been stabbed, beaten, and choked by her intimate partner, Hugo Munoz.
[2] Mr. Munoz was charged with the second degree murder of Ms. Coffey on April 5, 2021. Part-way through his trial before another judge Mr. Munoz indicated that he wished to change his plea. On May 13, 2025, Mr. Munoz pleaded guilty to manslaughter before me. He appears today for sentencing.
Facts
[3] The circumstances of the offence are set out in a lengthy Agreed Statement of Facts. Mr. Munoz and Ms. Coffey lived in Unit 701 at 100 Gamble Avenue. During the morning of April 4, 2021, neighbours heard Mr. Munoz yelling, Ms. Coffey crying, and loud banging noises coming from inside Ms. Coffey’s apartment.
[4] When Ms. Coffey did not meet her son as arranged, he reported her missing to police. Police entered the apartment at 8:47 p.m. and found Ms. Coffey lying face down in a large pool of blood on the floor beside the bed. Mr. Munoz was not there. He returned to the apartment just after midnight on April 5, 2021, and was arrested shortly thereafter standing in front of his apartment door.
[5] Mr. Munoz was observed leaving 100 Gamble Avenue at 11:28 a.m. on April 4, 2021. He did not return to Unit 701 until shortly after midnight on April 5. Mr. Munoz was seen wandering the streets of East York and returning periodically to 100 Gamble Avenue throughout the day on April 4. Neighbours who knew Mr. Munoz reported that he was talking to himself and was verbally aggressive to others.
[6] A post-mortem report prepared by Dr. Khara indicated that Ms. Coffey suffered multiple injuries, including stab wounds, neck compression and blunt impact trauma to the head, all of which could have caused or contributed to her death.
[7] Mr. Munoz and Ms. Coffey were intimate partners for about 15 years. They met when they both resided in a residence for people with mental illness. They began living together in 2012.
[8] Their relationship was at times turbulent. Police were called several times, often when Mr. Munoz was quite ill and behaving aggressively towards Ms. Coffey. Neighbours at 100 Gamble Avenue reported that they regularly heard Mr. Munoz and Ms. Coffey arguing. Members of Ms. Coffey’s and Mr. Munoz’s family reported that Mr. Munoz was verbally aggressive and abusive and would insult Ms. Coffey and try to control her.
Victim Impact
[9] The court received ten victim impact statements from Ms. Coffey’s son, sisters, niece, nephew, and friends. They all spoke of Ms. Coffey as a warm, generous, loving, and selfless woman. Her loss by such a brutal act has had a profound impact on those who knew and loved her. They are left with scars that will never heal and lives that are forever diminished.
[10] Some of Ms. Coffey’s loved ones expressed feelings of guilt for failing to see the signs that Ms. Coffey was vulnerable to Mr. Munoz’s erratic, aggressive behaviour and not taking action to prevent this tragedy. They feel responsible in some way for Ms. Coffey’s death. They are not. Mr. Munoz is the only person responsible for Ms. Coffey’s death.
[11] Homicide trials are different than trials for other crimes of violence because the victim of the crime cannot speak for herself. She cannot provide her own victim impact statement. It is too easy to lose sight of the fact that Ms. Coffey was someone who, like all of us, had problems and struggles, hopes and dreams. Cindy Coffey was more than just a name on an indictment, more than just another statistic. She loved and was loved.
[12] No sentence I impose on Mr. Munoz can ever compensate Ms. Coffey’s friends and family for their terrible loss. I have considered the impact of this crime on them in reaching my decision.
Circumstances of Mr. Munoz
[13] Mr. Munoz is 50 years old. He was born in Ecuador and came to Canada in 1982 with his parents and siblings. He is a Canadian citizen. He has no criminal record.
[14] Since the age of 16, Mr. Munoz has battled mental illness. He suffers from a bipolar mood disorder. He has been hospitalized more than twenty times for periods of time ranging from one week to one month. Mr. Munoz has a history of being non-compliant with the medication prescribed to him for his illness.
[15] I have carefully reviewed the report prepared by Dr. Julian Gojer, who reviewed Mr. Munoz’s psychiatric history and interviewed Mr. Munoz on May 2, July 17, and December 19, 2021, and Mr. Munoz’s brother on December 3, 2021.
[16] Dr. Gojer concluded that Mr. Munoz suffers from a bipolar mood disorder and that his mental illness substantially contributed to his attack on Ms. Coffey that led to her death. In Dr. Gojer’s opinion, Mr. Munoz was likely decompensating in the days prior to Ms. Coffey’s death, and his mind was affected by an emerging psychosis at the time of the offence.
Positions of the Parties
[17] The parties jointly submit that the appropriate sentence in this case is 14 years in prison less credit for the time Mr. Munoz has spent in pre-sentence custody. Mr. Munoz has been in custody since his arrest on April 5, 2021, 1,517 days.
[18] The Crown also seeks an order prohibiting Mr. Munoz from possessing any weapons for life, pursuant to s. 109 of the Criminal Code, a DNA order, and an order prohibiting Mr. Munoz from communicating with several people while he is serving his sentence.
Analysis
[19] In determining the fit sentence for Mr. Munoz, I am governed by the sentencing principles set out in the Criminal Code.
[20] The fundamental purpose of sentencing, as set out in s. 718 of the Criminal Code, is to contribute to respect for the law and the maintenance of a just, peaceful, and safe society by imposing sentences with objectives that include denunciation, deterrence, rehabilitation, the separation of offenders from society, when necessary, the promotion of responsibility in the offender, and the acknowledgement of the harm that criminal activity does to victims and to our community. The sentence that I impose must be proportionate to the gravity of the offence and the degree of responsibility of the offender.
[21] Furthermore, the sentence should be increased or reduced to account for any aggravating or mitigating circumstances related to the offence or the offender. It should also be similar to sentences imposed on similar offenders for similar offences committed in similar circumstances.
[22] The aggravating factors in this case are self-evident. Mr. Munoz brutally killed his intimate partner in the bedroom of her home, a place where she was entitled to feel safe and secure. He left her to die face down in a pool of blood on the floor without assisting her or summoning anyone to help her. This crime was an egregious breach of trust. The loss of Ms. Coffey has had a devastating impact on her family and friends.
[23] In mitigation, Mr. Munoz has no criminal record, has pleaded guilty and has expressed his remorse for his actions.
[24] Intimate partner violence is a pressing social problem. Parliament has recognized this in s. 718.2(a)(ii) of the Criminal Code by providing that the abuse of an intimate partner is a statutorily aggravating factor on sentence. Despite years of jurisprudence condemning such acts of violence, the problem has not abated: R. v. Schwalm, 2025 ONSC 864, at para. 90.
[25] Women are overwhelmingly the victims of intimate partner violence. Women are entitled to live their lives without being controlled by their partners and without risking their lives when they resist that control. Cindy Coffey was certainly entitled to that.
[26] Intimate partner violence demands a sentence that has as its primary objectives, general deterrence, and denunciation. Experienced counsel have jointly submitted that 14 years in prison is the appropriate disposition in this case to address those objectives. The Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Anthony-Cook, 2016 SCC 43, has held that a trial judge should not depart from a joint position on sentence unless the proposed sentence would bring the administration of justice into disrepute or is otherwise contrary to the public interest. I have concluded that the sentence proposed in this case addresses all of the relevant principles of sentencing. It would not bring the administration of justice into disrepute, nor is it contrary to the public interest.
Conclusion
[27] For these reasons, I sentence Mr. Munoz to a period of imprisonment of 14 years (5,110 days) before credit for the days he has spent in pre-sentence custody. He is credited for 1,517 actual days at 1.5 to 1 or 2,275.5 days. After credit, the remaining sentence to be served is 2,834 days, or 7 years, 9 months, and 9 days.
[28] I recommend that Mr. Munoz serve his sentence at the Ontario Regional Treatment Centre so that he can receive treatment for his mental illness. At the request of Crown counsel, I will order the transcript of the trial that touch on Mr. Munoz’s illness, and have it transmitted to Corrections Canada.
Ancillary Orders
[29] There will be an order pursuant to s. 109 of the Criminal Code prohibiting Mr. Munoz from possessing any weapons for life.
[30] Manslaughter is a “primary designated offence” in s. 487.04 of the Criminal Code. I therefore order, pursuant to s. 487.051(1) of the Criminal Code, that Mr. Munoz provide a sample of bodily substances for the purpose of forensic DNA analysis.
[31] I also order, pursuant to s. 743.21 of the Criminal Code, that Mr. Munoz not communicate, directly or indirectly, during his prison sentence with the individuals listed in Appendix A attached to these reasons.
Appendix A
- Wendy Powell
- Ralph Powell
- Judith Webb
- Michael Coffey
- Ryan Stevens
- Doreen Coffey
- Elizabeth Calligan
- Marisa Santilli
- Carrie Powell Ruttan
- John Lex
- Janice D’Silva
- Hannah Guiang
- Evana Ortigoza
- Ismail Khote
- Kenyan Toaquiza
- Richard Logan
Corrick
Released: May 30, 2025