C. Krueger

The accused pleaded guilty to possessing and accessing child pornography, and the parties presented a joint submission on sentence.

The court accepted an 18-month custodial term followed by three years' probation, finding the scale and nature of the material placed the offending in an upper reformatory range.

The defence sought to limit SOIRA registration to incarceration, but the court held the statutory presumption for a 20-year order was not displaced.

Applying s. 490.012 factors and recent appellate guidance, the court found ongoing registration would further the public purpose of preventing and investigating sexual offences.

The court sentenced Isaac Talbot-Hall for manslaughter after he pleaded guilty to stabbing Shawn Newsome in Thunder Bay.

The decision reviews the facts, the impact on the victim’s family, the positions of Crown and defence, the offender’s background, and the aggravating and mitigating factors.

The court considered the harsh conditions of pre-sentence custody and applied a reduction to the sentence.

The final sentence was ten years, reduced by one-half year for harsh conditions and by 1,400 days for pre-sentence custody, with additional ancillary orders.

A shareholder and creditor of a bankrupt corporation sought an order restraining the trustee in bankruptcy from selling the estate’s interest in a lawsuit and requested authorization under s. 38 of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act to continue the action on behalf of the estate.

The trustee had received an offer from a secured creditor to purchase the estate’s interest in the litigation and conducted a process inviting competing bids from creditors.

The moving creditor declined to submit a competing bid but sought a s. 38 assignment to pursue the claim himself.

The court held that the trustee acted reasonably in exposing the asset to the market to maximize recovery for creditors and that no basis existed to interfere with the trustee’s decision.

The motion was dismissed and the trustee was authorized to complete the sale of the cause of action.