C. Zeeh

The offender was convicted after trial of 24 weapons-related offences including possession of two loaded unlawful handguns, a loaded unlawful rifle, nine prohibited devices, and approximately 1,000 rounds of ammunition for the purpose of transfer, as well as eight breaches of s. 109 prohibition orders.

The offender, a repeat firearms offender with prior penitentiary terms including an equivalent 11-year sentence in 2018 for firearm trafficking, resisted the search warrant execution by initiating a lengthy armed standoff requiring deployment of the Emergency Task Force.

The court identified the new sentencing range for a repeat s. 95 offender under the post-2023 regime as 10–14 years.

A global notional sentence of 12 years was imposed, reduced by one year of Duncan credit for harsh pre-sentence custody conditions at Toronto South Detention Centre, and a further 2.8 years of Summers credit (1.5:1 for 685 days), yielding 8.2 years (2,993 days) remaining to serve.

A lifetime s. 109 prohibition order and a DNA order were also imposed.

The offenders, a mother and father, were convicted of multiple counts of severe physical and sexual abuse, including incest, sexual assault, and unlawful confinement, committed against four of their children over nearly two decades.

The court applied the principles from Friesen, emphasizing the profound harm caused by sexual violence against children and the egregious breach of trust.

After applying the totality principle to the numerous consecutive sentences, the mother was sentenced to a global term of 17 years and 8 months, and the father to a global term of 21 years.

The applicant, one of three co-accused charged with murder, brought a pre-trial application to exclude a video recovered from his cellphone.

The video depicted the applicant holding a firearm with a caption containing rap lyrics referencing a shot to the head, which mirrored the victim's cause of death.

The applicant argued the video was irrelevant and its prejudicial effect outweighed its probative value.

The court dismissed the application, finding the video was sufficiently proximate in time to the murder and admissible as a party admission, subject to limiting instructions to the jury regarding out-of-court statements and unconscious racial bias.

The accused was charged with importing heroin after arriving at Pearson International Airport.

Border Services Officers suspected he was inadmissible and, after conducting a targeted internet search about drug routes from Uganda, asked him if he had swallowed drugs without providing Charter cautions.

The accused admitted to swallowing drugs and subsequently expelled heroin pellets.

The court found the questioning had escalated beyond routine screening into a focused investigation, resulting in a detention that breached the accused's rights under ss. 7, 10(a), and 10(b) of the Charter.

The evidence was excluded under s. 24(2).