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Hamilton Spectator
17-07-2025
- Hamilton Spectator
He dismembered his roommate; now he lives in Hamilton and is asking for freedom
A mentally ill man who stabbed his roommate 320 times, dismembered him and tried to remove his heart has lived in a Hamilton apartment for four years. Shafaq Joya, who was found not criminally responsible (NCR) for the 2016 homicide in Scarborough, has asked the Ontario Review Board (ORB) to remove restrictions he has been living under. The ORB refused that request in November after Joya's annual review, saying he is too dangerous to go without the specialized care he is legally bound to receive through St. Joseph's Healthcare's forensic psychiatric unit. 'Should Mr. Joya decompensate, he risks committing a serious criminal offence, given the nature of his illness,' says the ORB. 'Experiencing psychosis would cause him to become violent.' On July 2, the Court of Appeal for Ontario upheld the ORB's decision. A look at Joya's court and medical reports tells the story of a profoundly ill man who lives with the painful knowledge of what he did. It also sheds light on the safeguards an NCR patient must comply with to transition back into the community, and how difficult that can be, particularly when there are few resources — including psychiatrists — willing and able to take on such complex and risky cases. A person is generally found NCR when, due to a major mental illness at the time of the offence, they were unable to understand the nature and consequences of their actions, or that they were wrong. Joya's trial heard that beginning in 2012 he began seeing demons at work, home and on the subway. On Feb. 25, 2016, his girlfriend took him out for his birthday. Then he disappeared. During a psychotic episode on Feb. 27, Joya kicked down his roommate's door. Al Abram Milon, 19, was on a student visa from Bangladesh. Using two knives and heeding to a voice that told him to kill Milon and remove his heart, Joya stabbed him 320 times, court later heard. 'The stab wounds are deep and internal organs are visibly pulled out of the cavity in the deceased's torso,' read case documents. 'The deceased's jaw with teeth attached was some distance from the body. The deceased was undressed …' Joya's girlfriend called, but he didn't answer. She went to his basement apartment where blood on the floor led to the discovery of Milon's body. Joya was missing. On Feb. 28, police guarding the scene heard noises coming from the second floor. They found Joya had been hiding in the attic, wrapped in a blanket and wearing only boxer shorts, with socks on his injured hands. He told police his roommate tried to kill him and he hid in the attic because he was afraid. He was charged with second-degree murder, admitted to St. Joseph's forensic psychiatric unit and diagnosed with schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder. In March 2018, after testimony from Dr. Gary Chaimowitz, head of the St. Joe's forensic psychiatric unit, a Toronto judge found Joya NCR. Chaimowitz told the court Joya believed he was 'eliminating a demon, not a human being.' He had no previous criminal record. The court ordered him to be treated at St. Joe's. Repeated attempts by The Spectator to reach Joya and his lawyer, Anita Szigeti, by phone and email over the course of a week were unsuccessful. Similar attempts to reach others in her legal practice were also unsuccessful. Joya, now 39, was born in Kabul, Afghanistan and is the fifth of eight siblings. At the time of his trial, two siblings were lawyers, one was a PhD student, one was a university professor and another was studying at McMaster. His family fled the turmoil in their home country for Pakistan, where they remained for a decade. In 1997, they immigrated to Canada, living first in Montreal, then Toronto, according to trial records and ORB documents. Joya's parents divorced in 1998 and he lived with his mother. He has never been married and has no children. In high school, he had symptoms of depression and became withdrawn, according to the ORB. He began smoking marijuana at 17 and eventually used it daily. He denies other drug or alcohol use. He attended York University. The ORB says Joya claims to have completed a social work degree, except for his field placement. However, his mother says he was expelled for plagiarizing, according to ORB documents. He graduated from a one-year paralegal program at Centennial College, but did not do a placement or get his licence. He has worked in sales, security, maintenance and banking, according to the ORB. He has also been on Ontario Works. During his 20s, Joya became even more isolated and developed a fascination with conspiracy theories, such as the Illuminati and demonic possession. In 2012, he turned up at his mother's home acting 'bizarre and paranoid,' according to the ORB. He said he needed to hide because people at a bar had killed his friend and were now after him. He took a knife from his mom's kitchen for protection. Though she did not feel threatened, his mom called police and Joya was taken to St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. But he escaped. While on the run, he waded into Lake Ontario saying he wanted to drown himself. His sister's boyfriend intervened and Joya tried to drown him. Police took him back to the hospital where he was admitted involuntarily. He stayed nine days. After being discharged, Joya failed to take his medication, didn't pursue followup care and continued to use cannabis daily, according to the ORB. Joya said he was having an 'identity crisis.' He went to Tajikistan and Afghanistan for two months to reconnect with his culture and extended family. 'When he returned from his travels, he lived independently, was more socially engaged,' according to the ORB. That didn't last. His mental health deteriorated and he had difficulty keeping a job. Sometimes he was homeless. In 2015, he had two meetings with a Toronto psychiatrist as part of an application for the Ontario Disability Support Program. The doctor suggested he needed a therapist. In the weeks before the homicide, Joya's mother was worried about her son's erratic behaviour and mood swings. His brother noticed he was aggressive and upset. Then the homicide, followed by a handful of news stories, which ended along with his trial in 2018. ORB records say little about Joya's time living in the forensic psychiatric unit at St. Joe's, apart from references to 'sexual comments' made toward female staff. 'Mr. Joya can be quite rude, inappropriate and sexually challenging,' says one document. By October 2020, Joya was already getting passes to visit Toronto. Once, when he returned, he tested positive for cannabis. He said he met with friends and inhaled their second-hand smoke. Another time, Joya missed a random drug screen while visiting his mother in Toronto. He says his mother called him unexpectedly, the visit was spontaneous and he forgot to tell the hospital he was going. In June 2021, Joya was quietly given the green light to move out of the hospital and into a one-bedroom apartment in Hamilton. The home is subsidized by the Canadian Mental Health Association's Mental Health and Justice Program. Every 28 days he receives an antipsychotic injection at the Forensic Outpatient Clinic and every two weeks he reports to the Forensic Outpatient Team. He also has regular visits from his housing support worker. 'He is capable of keeping a clean home, cooking for himself and is always dressed appropriately during visits,' say ORB documents. Since living on his own, Joya has worked for the LCBO and Skip the Dishes. He attended Mohawk College, graduating in 2021 with honours from a social work program. He would like to be a parking enforcement officer. The ORB notes some concerns about Joya. In February 2023, he was readmitted to hospital for a week because of 'dysregulated sleep, a fixation with meditation and greater investment in spiritual pursuits.' The ORB says this was brought on by watching YouTube videos. Lack of sleep was a symptom Joya experienced before killing his roommate. Another issue is that, despite his nicotine stained fingers, he denies smoking heavily. That raises questions about his honesty, the ORB says. His treatment team is also concerned he is content to collect ODSP rather than work. That means he has too much unstructured time. He walks, watches a lot of videos, listens to podcasts and hangs out with friends, most of whom he met through the forensic psychiatry program. His team urges him to find a job. Without one, he puts himself at risk of gravitating toward substance use or becoming preoccupied by YouTube videos, which could lead to another relapse, his team says. In NCR cases, the ultimate goal is to get the patient well enough that they can once again fully rejoin society, without restrictions. Not all NCR patients attain that goal. 'his risk is real, not speculative, Joya is currently on a conditional discharge. In March 2024 at his annual ORB hearing, his lawyer, Anita Szigeti, sought an absolute discharge, saying her client 'no longer represents a significant threat to the safety of the public.' But Joya's St. Joe's care team and a lawyer representing the Attorney General of Ontario argued against his full release. Joya needs to be monitored closely, they said, because the nature of his illness makes him vulnerable to 'breakthrough symptoms.' Part of his illness is his inability to realize he is ill when things are spiralling out of control. 'If Mr. Joya were granted an absolute discharge, without the appropriate support in place, his risk is real, not speculative,' said the ORB. Szigeti also brought a Charter of Rights and Freedoms application that argued a lack of followup psychiatric care in the Hamilton community was interfering with his right to be granted full freedom. One remedy the lawyer asked for was an order directing the province to fund St. Joe's and/or the Canadian Mental Health Association to establish nonforensic followup care for her client immediately after an absolute discharge. As long as Joya remains tethered to the forensic unit through a court order, he has a team of mental-health specialists, including a psychiatrist. St. Joe's can quickly bring Joya back into the hospital for care if he is showing signs of a relapse. The ORB has raised concerns that if Joya were to ever receive an absolute discharge, he would no longer receive care from the forensic psychiatric unit and would need help from 'civilian' mental-health experts in the community. 'There is no current, nonforensic program in place that could replicate the oversight that Mr. Joya needs,' Chaimowitz told the ORB. Ultimately, after Joya's latest hearing, the ORB determined he should continue on his conditional discharge orders. An absolute discharge was refused. While a high standard is set for safe reintegration, the mental-health system's lack of resources potentially makes the transition from the forensic psychiatrist system to the 'civilian' system extra difficult. Joya is on a wait list for INTAC (Intensive Case Management Access Coordination), a single referral point of access for community psychiatric care in Hamilton. The wait list is two years for intake and another year to two years 'before he would receive any form of contact with a psychiatrist,' St. Joe's has told the ORB. 'He feels tremendous remorse He is also on long wait lists for the Schizophrenia Outpatient Program and the Hamilton Program for Schizophrenia, both of which are affiliated with St. Joseph's. 'It is very difficult to get nonforensic providers to accept patients with mental-health issues from the forensic system, especially patients who have committed a serious offence,' Chaimowitz testified to the ORB. 'Without these supports, he would become a significant threat to the safety of the public,' says the ORB. 'There is a real, foreseeable, significant risk of serious physical or psychological harm.' A hospital report regarding Joya says 'the severity of such violence, should it occur, has been estimated to be high with or without professional supports in place.' In theory, if and when Joya is deemed ready to have his court-ordered restrictions lifted, he could go as long as four years without a psychiatrist. The reality, however, is different, says St. Joseph's. Under questioning by the ORB, its representatives said if Joya was granted an absolute discharge before being admitted to a civilian mental-health program, the hospital has a policy to bridge the gap for four weeks. Furthermore, one of Joya's doctors from the forensic unit said no psychiatrist would abandon a patient who was absolutely discharged without supports in the community. Joya has told his doctors and the ORB that he wants to get well. He not only understands that he killed his roommate, but is traumatized by it. 'He has indicated that he owes it to the family of the victim to be compliant with medication,' says the ORB. 'He feels tremendous remorse and does not ever want to be in a position where this could happen again … He reiterated that, prior to the (homicide), he did try to see a psychiatrist on two separate occasions, and he was turned away or misdiagnosed.' Joya says his dream is to have an absolute discharge so he can move away from Hamilton and start a family. 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Business Insider
19-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Top 5 African countries that produced the most oil in April 2025
As per the recent monthly oil-report by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), in April, the OPEC Reference Basket (ORB) value fell by $5.02, or 6.8%, month on month, to average $68.98/barrel. The OPEC Reference Basket (ORB) value dropped by 6.8% in April, averaging $68.98 per barrel. Year-to-date, the ORB value is $74.82 per barrel, reflecting a 10.6% decrease from the previous year. Specific crude oil components saw varying degrees of price decline, influenced by market dynamics. All ORB component prices fell in accordance with their respective crude oil benchmarks. Lower official selling prices for most components in the three main marketplaces also contributed to the decrease. Year-to-date, the ORB value was $74.82/b, down $8.85 or 10.6% from the previous year. 'West and North African Basket components – Bonny Light, Djeno, Es Sider, Rabi Light, Sahara Blend and Zafiro – fell by an average of $4.77, or 6.7%, m-o-m, to $66.85/b, and multiple-region destination grades – Arab Light, Basrah Medium, Iran Heavy and Kuwait Export – decreased on average by $5.11, or 6.8%, m-o-m, to settle at $69.89/b,' the report states. 'Murban crude fell by $4.90, or 6.7%, m-o-m, on average to settle at $67.73/b. The Merey component decreased by $4.38, or 7.2%, m-o-m, to settle at $56.72/b' it adds. The report also highlights that despite recent tariff developments, the global economy continues to grow steadily. The globe's economic growth prediction for 2025 has been lowered down to 2.9%, while the growth forecast for 2026 stays at 3.1%. Additionally, the world's oil demand in 2025 is projected to climb by 1.3 mb/d, year on year, unchanged from last month's projection. Despite recent tariff-related changes, the global economy is on track for growth, and as for Africa's largest oil-producer: Nigeria, this trend is prevalent. The Nigerian economy is not expected to be seriously affected by recent US tariffs due to exemptions for oil and gas exports and little commerce with the US. 'The April 2025 Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria PMI eased slightly to 54.2 from a one-year high of 54.3 in March, but still marked the fifth consecutive month of expansion in the private sector. Output growth accelerated to its fastest pace since January 2024, while employment rose for the fifth straight month to an eight-month high, as firms responded to stronger demand,' the OPEC report states. 'However, rising raw material costs and currency depreciation pushed input prices higher, leading to a further uptick in output charges. Despite these inflationary pressures, businesses remained optimistic about the year-ahead outlook, although confidence softened for the third consecutive month, it adds. With that said, here are the African countries with the highest oil production last month in thousand barrels per day (tb/d), according to OPEC's report. Save Congo which plateaued at 0, mucj like last month when it stood as the only country on the list to record an increase, everyother country on the list produced less oil. Top 5 African countries with the highest oil-production in April 2025 Rank Country DoC crude oil production based on secondary sources, tb/d Change between April and March 1. Nigeria 1,471 -28 2. Libya 1,263 -14 3. Algeria 912 -1 4. Congo 260 0 5. Gabon 222 -1
