Adetayo G. Akinyemi

The plaintiff brought a motion for summary judgment regarding three loan agreements.

The defendant admitted receiving $74,000 but disputed the interest payable, arguing the third agreement consolidated the first two.

The court found the third agreement was a novation that consolidated the loans and provided more time to pay in exchange for additional interest.

Although the short-term interest rate exceeded the criminal interest rate under s. 347 of the Criminal Code, the court exercised its remedial discretion to allow the $19,000 interest to stand, applying standard pre-judgment interest thereafter to avoid a windfall for the defendant.

The accused appealed convictions for multiple counts of assault and theft under $5,000 arising from two late‑night group robberies of pedestrians.

The appellant argued the verdicts were unreasonable and unsupported by the evidence, and alternatively that the sentence of a suspended sentence with 30 months’ probation was unfit because the trial judge declined to grant a conditional discharge.

The court reviewed the standard governing appellate intervention for unreasonable verdicts and concluded the trial judge’s findings were supported by the evidence, including eyewitness identification, the discovery of stolen property at the appellant’s feet in the vehicle, and credibility findings rejecting the appellant’s testimony.

The court held that the trial judge was entitled to rely on the identification evidence and reject exculpatory testimony from both the appellant and a co‑accused attempting to minimize the appellant’s role.

The sentence was also upheld, with the court finding that a conditional discharge would have been contrary to the public interest given the planned and intimidating nature of the assaults and thefts.