The accused was charged with four counts relating to domestic violence against his common law wife and his son.
The defence brought a pre-trial motion to sever the count relating to the son from the counts relating to the wife.
The Crown brought a cross-motion seeking a pre-trial ruling that evidence of the four separate incidents would be admissible across all four counts to show the family dynamic, motive, and the climate of fear.
The court provisionally allowed the Crown's motion, finding a reasonable possibility that the cross-count evidence would be admissible at trial.
Applying the factors for severance, the court dismissed the defence motion, concluding that the factual and legal issues were closely intertwined and the interests of justice favoured a single trial where the vulnerable witnesses would only have to testify once.
