Syrian refugee found not criminally responsible for failing to stop after deadly Ontario crash gets absolute discharge
A Syrian refugee found not criminally responsible for failing to stop at an Ontario accident that killed two men and severely injured a third has received an absolute discharge, because he “does not at this time meet the threshold of significant threat to the safety of the public.”
He was released from prison last fall as he appeals the outcome of other convictions related to the fatal crash.
Mouhamad Al Jalmoud was the driver of a black Ford Escape that collided with a Hyundai Sonata in September 2022, in Hamilton, killing two passengers in the Hyundai and seriously injuring the driver.
Al Jalmoud “did not at this time have a valid driver’s license nor had he ever driven a vehicle in Canada since his arrival in 2018,” said a recent decision from the Ontario Review Board, which notes he needed an Arabic-speaking interpreter for the hearing last month.
The review board heard police spotted the Ford Escape “swerving in and out of lanes and repeatedly increasing/decreasing the rate of speed” before the deadly crash, said the March 19 decision.
Al Jalmoud stopped for a red light at an intersection and failed to go when the light turned green, said the decision.
“The police officers at this time got out of their unmarked (white minivan), in uniform, to check on the driver based on their concerns that he might be distracted or impaired. As the police officers stepped out of their vehicle Mr. Al Jalmoud took off in the Escape.”
He kept heading north and failed to stop for another red light, colliding with the Hyundai.
The impact caused the Hyundai “to spin out of control,” said the decision.
John Wignall was ejected out of the rear window of the Hyundai and into a building. He died at the scene just after 11 p.m. Paramedics took Ryan Valentim, the other Hyundai passenger, to hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
The Hyundai’s driver, Hardick Patel, was taken to hospital with “very serious” injuries.
Immediately after the crash, Al Jalmoud “took off on foot leaving the scene. Mr. Al Jalmoud returned to the scene sometime later and collapsed. Mr. Al Jalmoud was also transported to Hamilton General Hospital.”
In December 2024, a jury found Al Jalmoud not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder on three counts of failing to stop after the crash.
The same jury found Al Jalmoud “guilty of two counts of dangerous driving causing death and one count of dangerous driving causing bodily harm,” said the review board.
A judge sentenced Al Jalmoud last March to three years and three months behind bars.
But Al Jalmoud only spent about six months in custody as he “has appealed against the convictions and sentence to the Ontario Court of Appeal. No date for the appeal has yet been set,” said the review board.
“He was released from Collins Bay Penitentiary on September 24, 2025, on bail pending appeal.”
The review board pointed out “those matters are before the court and outside our jurisdiction.”
Al Jalmoud is subject to multiple conditions during his release, one of which permits him to leave home in the presence of his father.
The jury in Al Jalmoud’s criminal trial heard that, as a child, he “witnessed the horrors of the Syrian civil war, including bombings, airstrikes, killings in the street, mass and arbitrary arrests, and torture. He witnessed the effects of these horrors on his friends, neighbours and family. He was tortured himself. He developed a fear of police and military figures. The family fled to refugee camps in Lebanon, where they were mistreated.”
Al Jalmoud and his family came to Canada as refugees when he was 16 years old.
Two psychiatrists testified at his criminal trial that Al Jalmoud “suffered from (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) PTSD on the evening of September 25, 2022, that the PTSD led to a dissociative state triggered by Mr. Al Jalmoud’s encounter with the police officers in the white minivan, and that Mr. Al Jalmoud was in a dissociative state until he woke up in the hospital hours later. They both testified that Mr. Al Jalmoud was not in control of his actions. While he was capable of performing motor functions, he was not conscious or aware of what he was doing, either while driving away from the police or after the collision.”
Both experts were “of the view that Mr. Al Jalmoud was not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder” for failing to stop at the crash scene.
A different psychiatrist conducted a risk assessment of Al Jalmoud last year. He testified before the Ontario Review Board that Al Jalmoud “does not have risk factors including having a major mental illness, antisocial traits or antisocial personality disorder or substance use that would enhance risk,” said the decision.
“The evidence is that he has remorse for the tragic events he caused.”
The review board referenced a British Columbia court case that identified significant risk as a “real risk of physical or psychological harm to members of the public that is serious in the sense of going beyond the merely trivial or annoying,” said the decision.
“The conduct giving rise to the harm must be criminal in nature.”
The psychiatrist who interviewed Al Jalmoud last year “ was asked whether he agreed with the evidence at trial that the sound of the collision could have triggered PTSD. He responded that while anything is possible just the sound would not lead to a PTSD response that would have led Mr. Al Jalmoud to fleeing the scene.”
The same psychiatrist testified that he was not asked to form an opinion on criminal responsibility regarding the charges.
“He expressed that he would have come to a different conclusion than the two psychiatric assessors at trial; that this was a young man who made an unbelievably unwise decision to drive given his skill set and panicked when he saw the police, knowing he was driving without a license and possibly without knowing how to drive. He accelerated, colliding with another vehicle, panicked, took off and came back.”
However, he “gave clear evidence that Mr. Al Jalmoud … does not at this time pose a significant threat to the safety of the public,” said the review board.
Al Jalmoud, who was 20 at the time of the crash and is now 24, “exhibits pro-social values of family connection, no substance use and pro-social future goals,” said the review board.
“While his behaviour on the date of the index offences included the anti-social act of driving illegally without a valid license and knowing, this being his first time ever driving in Canada, he was lacking driving skills, the evidence before us which we accept is that the likelihood of similar circumstances ever arising in the future is very remote and unlikely.”
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