A. Stastny

The offender was found guilty of kidnapping, extortion, using an imitation firearm, administering a noxious substance, aggravated assault, fraud, and failing to comply with probation.

The victim was held for 12-14 hours, extorted, and tortured with boiling liquid, resulting in severe burns.

The Crown sought 12 years, while the defence sought 7-8 years.

The court imposed a global sentence of 10 years, reduced from 11 years due to mitigating factors including harsh pre-sentence custody conditions (lockdowns and COVID-19) and restrictive bail conditions.

After applying Summers credit, the remaining sentence was 7 years and 3 months.

The applicant applied for certiorari to quash his committal to stand trial on charges including kidnapping and extortion, arguing there was no evidence identifying him as the perpetrator.

The Crown relied on circumstantial evidence, specifically the use of the applicant's details and file photograph during a foreign currency transaction with the victim's bank card.

The Superior Court of Justice dismissed the application, finding that the teller's standard practice of verifying identity against the file photograph provided sufficient evidence of identity to meet the threshold for committal.