'Time to move on': Reaction as Udo Haan found not criminally responsible for wife’s death, house explosion
A Kitchener man, who was charged with killing his wife and then blowing up their home in 2018, has been found not criminally responsible.
Udo Haan admitted he committed the offenses, but the judge found he was suffering from delusions at the time.
Haan’s home on Sprucedale Crescent exploded on Aug. 22, 2018.
His wife Edra Haan was found dead in the couple’s backyard.
It was later determined that she had been killed before the blast.
Her husband Udo was charged with first-degree murder and three arson-related counts.
On Thursday a judge ruled he was not criminally responsible.
Edra Haan’s brother was relieved to see the matter dealt with in court after waiting four-and-a-half years.
“It is closure that it’s over,” said Al Pinheiro. “It’s not really what we were looking for, I guess. But at the end of the day it was the proper call.”
In an agreed statement of facts, court heard that Udo Haan was increasingly paranoid in the time leading up to the explosion. He thought he was being followed and that he was going to be tortured and killed.
Haan also thought his wife was having an affair or somehow involved in organized crime.
The couple, who had been married for 40 years, were in the process of separating.
In the early morning of Aug. 22, Udo Haan strangled Edra and then opened a drop line that allowed the hole to fill with natural gas causing it to explode shortly after 8 a.m.
The Sprucedale Crescent home was destroyed, two neighbouring houses had to be demolished and other homes in the area were also damaged.
The aftermath of the explosion at Sprucedale Crescent. The house was completely destroyed, and the adjacent homes also caught fire. (WRPS / Twitter)
“He admits he did the act but he’s not responsible because of a pervasive, overwhelming mental disorder which drove the commission of this incident and was overwhelming in his mind,” said Steve Gehl, Udo Haan’s lawyer.
A psychiatrist who assessed Haan told the court he was tortured by his beliefs at the time, and in her opinion, he would not have committed the offence had be not been in a highly psychotic state.
Another psychiatrist who took the stand for the defense agreed with that assessment.
In closing submissions both the Crown and the defense said they believed the judge should find Udo Haan not criminally responsible by way of mental disorder.
The judge agreed.
The matter will now become the jurisdiction of the Ontario Review Board.
“He will remain in custody at whatever detention centre until he is transferred to a hospital where he will be appearing before the review board, where they will decide where he goes,” explained Gehl.
“Now it’s time to move on,” said Pinheiro. “This is behind us now and the future is ahead of us.”
Edra Haan’s family is reflecting on all she brought to their lives.
“She had a laugh that just brought everybody together, and a smile,” said Pinheiro. “She was always willing to help everybody, and that’s what we take away from this.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.