Dano Sahulka

The appellant was convicted of child pornography offences and offences associated with sexual touching of his daughter.

Three series of photographs depicting the victim were found on the Internet.

The appellant admitted to taking innocent photographs but denied taking the pornographic ones and denied distributing any photographs.

He suggested the victim's mother and her new boyfriend had opportunity to commit the offences.

The trial judge rejected the appellant's evidence and found the circumstances consistent with the appellant's guilt with no reasonable alternative inferences.

The appeal was dismissed.

The defendants brought applications seeking a stay of charges under section 24(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for an alleged breach of section 11(b) Charter rights to trial within a reasonable time.

The court applied the framework established in R. v. Jordan, 2016 SCC 27, which sets a presumptive ceiling of 18 months for provincial court cases.

The total delay from charge to anticipated trial was 34.5 months.

After deducting defence-waived delay of 8 months and 5 days, the remaining delay was 26 months and 1 week, exceeding the ceiling.

The Crown failed to establish exceptional circumstances to rebut the presumption of unreasonableness.

The court found the Crown's conduct exemplified a "culture of complacency," particularly regarding delayed disclosure of the Information to Obtain.

The applications were granted and all charges were stayed.