Alexandre Riopelle

The accused, Anis Rehman, was charged with sexual assault and invitation to sexual touching involving a young complainant at a private daycare in 2019.

The court reviewed the evidence of the complainant, the accused, and defence witnesses, and applied the principles of reasonable doubt and credibility assessment, especially as they relate to child witnesses.

The court found the complainant credible but concluded that the defence evidence raised a reasonable doubt.

The accused was acquitted on both counts.

The defendant, Matthew Pecore, brought an application under s. 11(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms seeking a stay of charges for sexual assault due to unreasonable delay.

The total delay from the information being sworn to the anticipated end of trial was 27 months and 7 days, which is below the 30-month presumptive ceiling for Superior Court matters.

The delay was primarily attributed to new memories from the complainant leading to further charges and a change in trial complexity and dates, including a direct indictment moving the case to Superior Court.

The court found that while the new disclosure inevitably caused delay, it was not attributable to the fault of any party, and the overall delay was not "markedly unreasonable" when balancing the interests of the accused, victims, and public confidence in the justice system.

The application for a stay was dismissed.

This ruling addresses a third-party records application brought by the accused in a sexual assault case.

The accused sought disclosure of the complainant's therapist's records and Children's Aid Society (CAS) records.

Applying the two-stage analysis under section 278 of the Criminal Code, the court ordered the therapist's records produced to the court for a Stage 2 review, finding them likely relevant and necessary due to the circumstances surrounding the complainant's memory resurfacing.

However, the CAS records were not ordered produced, as they failed to meet the "likely relevant" threshold at Stage 1, lacking an evidentiary foundation beyond conjecture and having weak probative value compared to the complainant's privacy interests.

The accused, David Séguin, pleaded guilty to five charges, including impaired driving (drug/alcohol), dangerous driving, failure to stop at the scene of an accident, and driving while prohibited.

These offenses occurred on two separate dates (August 17, 2021, and December 29, 2021).

The Crown sought a global sentence of four years, while the defence proposed time served plus probation.

The court considered aggravating factors, notably the accused's extensive criminal record for similar driving offenses (11th impaired driving conviction, 2nd dangerous driving, 3rd prohibited driving), and the fact that offenses were committed while prohibited and on bail for a prior similar offense.

Attenuating factors included the guilty plea and successful completion of addiction therapy.

The court imposed a global sentence of approximately 36.5 months of imprisonment, a 10-year driving prohibition, and $900 in victim fine surcharges.