Caitlin Sharawy

The appellant appealed his convictions for eleven charges arising from an armed robbery of a cryptocurrency exchange business.

He argued the trial judge erred in assessing circumstantial evidence and failed to consider reasonable inferences inconsistent with guilt.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding the trial judge correctly applied the Villaroman principles and reasonably concluded that the appellant's participation in the robbery was the only plausible inference based on the totality of the evidence, including DNA on clothing used in the robbery.

The Crown brought an application for certiorari with mandamus in aid to quash the decision of a preliminary inquiry judge who discharged the respondent on charges of possession of a loaded prohibited firearm.

The Crown argued the preliminary inquiry judge committed jurisdictional error by drawing inferences favourable to the respondent and failing to consider the evidence as a whole.

The Superior Court of Justice dismissed the application, finding that the preliminary inquiry judge properly applied the Shephard test and engaged in the permissible limited weighing of circumstantial evidence without choosing between competing inferences.