Udo Haan back in St. Thomas hospital after harassment complaint

The Kitchener man who killed his wife and blew up their home in 2018 is facing new charges. CTV’s Krista Simpson explains.

Udo Haan, the Kitchener, Ont. man who was found not criminally responsible for killing his wife and causing an explosion that destroyed the couple’s home in 2018, has been readmitted to the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care in St. Thomas.

The 65-year-old was brought back to the hospital on April 18 after a woman accused him of harassment.

Haan’s history

Haan was sent to the facility at the conclusion of his criminal case. Since then, his care has been under the purview of the Ontario Review Board. They monitor the progress of his treatment and decide when, and for how long, he can leave the centre.

Haan had been suffering from delusions when his killed his wife Edra and blew up their home on Sprucedale Cresent in August 2018. He was diagnosed with an unspecified bipolar disorder and has been taking lithium as part of his treatment plan.

The board gave Haan permission to move out of the hospital in September 2024. In the months since, he had been living independently in an apartment near the hospital. He was still required to attend meetings with his medical team and submit to regular testing to make sure he was taking his medication.

The Ontario Review Board noted in a recent hearing that Haan wanted to pursue romantic relationships. They ultimately decided he had to report any relationships to his medical team due to “grave intimate partner violence” in the past and his “lack of insight into his illness.”

Haan was also told he had to abstain from drugs and alcohol.

The board, while allowing Haan more freedoms, felt he still represented a “significant threat to the safety of the public.”

New developments

On April 18, police went to Haan’s apartment after a woman complained he had been harassing her.

“When police arrived at his apartment, they found him drinking beer and smoking joints of cannabis,” a hospital report said.

Haan claimed he had received a death threat on social media and that was one of the reasons he had used drugs and alcohol. The hospital’s outreach team said they are investigating that allegation.

Haan also said he hired a private investigator to follow the woman who filed the complaint in order to discount her story.

Members of his medical team noted he had previously hired a private investigator to follow his wife before he caused her death.

Haan’s actions resulted in criminal charges, and he was taken back to the Southwest Centre for Forensic Mental Health Care.

Within days, his medical team said he was experiencing “an acute decompensation of his unspecified bipolar and related disorder, which was likely primarily triggered by sub-optimal treatment and driven by cannabis and alcohol use, along with stressors he was experiencing around the alleged death threat he received.”

A doctor at the facility also determined Haan was incapable of making treatment decisions for his bipolar condition.

Since Haan has launched a court appeal, the hospital noted that has limited his treatment options. That, in turn, means his hospital stay will likely be extended.

At a hearing on Tuesday, both the hospital’s lawyer and Haan’s lawyer agreed the restrictions on his liberty were warranted.