Darren Garth Anger

The accused pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

The Crown sought a sentence of 15 months imprisonment, while defence counsel sought a conditional sentence followed by probation.

The court rejected the conditional sentence, finding it inconsistent with the fundamental purpose and principles of sentencing, particularly given the seriousness of drug trafficking offences and the need for denunciation and general deterrence.

The court imposed a sentence of time served (six days pre-sentence custody credited as 12 days) plus 258 additional days of imprisonment (equivalent to nine months), followed by three years of probation, along with ancillary orders including a firearms prohibition, DNA order, and forfeiture order.

Criminal trial for importing marijuana into Canada and possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking.

Border officers discovered approximately 150 pounds of marijuana in duffel bags hidden in the sleeper compartment of a commercial truck entering Canada, along with US$23,000 concealed under a passenger seat.

The accused claimed a stranger had placed the bags in his truck while he briefly left it unlocked and that he did not know their contents.

The court rejected the explanation and held that the accused either knew the contents or was willfully blind, having accepted payment and failed to make obvious inquiries.

The Crown proved the essential elements of both offences beyond a reasonable doubt.

The accused applied for a declaration that his arrest and the subsequent search of his vehicle violated ss. 8 and 9 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Police arrested the accused after surveillance based largely on untested confidential informant information and ambiguous observations of a brief meeting between vehicles.

The court held that the police lacked objectively reasonable and probable grounds for arrest, as the informant information was insufficiently verified and the observed conduct was not inherently incriminating.

The arrest therefore constituted arbitrary detention and the search incidental to arrest was unlawful.

Applying the framework in Grant, the court found the Charter breaches sufficiently serious that admitting the discovered drugs would bring the administration of justice into disrepute.

The accused pleaded guilty to possessing a genuine Nigerian passport that could be used to establish identity contrary to section 122(1)(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, and to misrepresenting or withholding material facts relating to the true identity of a passenger that could induce an error in the administration of the Act contrary to section 127(a).

The Crown sought a custodial sentence of approximately nine months, while defence counsel sought a conditional sentence.

The court imposed a conditional sentence of one year to be served in the community with strict conditions, including house arrest for the first six months, community service, and ongoing supervision.

The accused was charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and possession of proceeds of crime.

Police officers arrested the accused as a passenger in a vehicle bearing stolen licence plates and conducted a search incidental to arrest, discovering cocaine and cash.

The court found that the arrest was unlawful because the officers lacked objectively reasonable grounds to believe the accused possessed the stolen licence plates.

The court excluded the evidence under section 24(2) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, finding that the long-term interests of the administration of justice favoured exclusion despite the seriousness of the charges.

Both charges were dismissed.

The accused pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

The first offence involved 95.5 grams of cocaine.

While on release for the first charge, the accused was found in possession of 288.5 grams of cocaine.

The Crown sought 4 to 5 years imprisonment, while the defence sought 18 months to 2 years less a day.

The court sentenced the accused to a total of 48 months imprisonment (18 months for the first count and 30 months consecutive for the second count), noting the seriousness of committing a second, larger trafficking offence while on release.

The accused pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

He was arrested on September 28, 2011, with 36.5 grams of cocaine and admitted to possessing an additional 59 grams at his residence.

While awaiting resolution of those charges, he was found with 288.5 grams of cocaine on February 16, 2012.

The court imposed consecutive sentences totaling 48 months imprisonment, along with ancillary orders including a DNA order, firearms prohibition, and forfeiture order.

The court balanced the mitigating factors of the accused's youth, lack of prior record, remorse, and participation in counselling against the serious nature of the offences and the aggravating factor of reoffending while awaiting trial.

The accused, a pastor of a Spanish Pentecostal Church in London, Ontario, was charged with withholding material facts during border entry and attempting to aid and abet an undocumented individual to contravene immigration requirements.

The accused claimed duress, alleging that the hidden passenger threatened harm to his family in El Salvador if he did not smuggle him into Canada.

The court found the accused guilty on both counts, holding that the alleged threat of harm to the accused's parents lacked the temporal immediacy required for the duress defence and that the threat was too contingent and remote to constitute immediate harm.

The court also found the accused's account of events improbable and incredible.

The accused was arrested at Pearson International Airport after a detector dog alerted to her and a secondary inspection revealed cocaine hidden in her luggage.

She brought a pre-trial motion to exclude evidence, alleging multiple Charter violations and involuntary statements.

The court held that a dog sniff at a border crossing does not violate s. 8 due to a reduced expectation of privacy.

However, the court found a s. 10(b) violation due to an unjustified delay of one hour and forty minutes in implementing her right to counsel, and a s. 8 violation because a customs officer conducted a strip search as a matter of routine policy rather than on individualized grounds.

Consequently, statements made by the accused during the delay in accessing counsel were excluded under s. 24(2), and statements made to an RCMP officer under the guise of bail questions were excluded as involuntary.

Two defendants pleaded guilty to attempting to aid and abet a foreign national to misrepresent material facts under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act by providing her with a fraudulently used Canadian passport to attempt entry into Canada.

The defendants were detected at the border when the female passenger did not match the photograph in the passport presented.

The court imposed a fine of $5,000 on each defendant, rejecting the Crown's request for six months incarceration.

The court found the defendants fell into the less serious category of offenders, as their crime was motivated by humanitarian concerns rather than financial gain, and was ultimately easily detected.