David Rowcliffe

The appellant appealed his convictions for possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and simple possession of cannabis resin, arguing that the police lacked reasonable and probable grounds to arrest him following a controlled delivery of a package containing cocaine.

The Court of Appeal found that the police had both subjective and objective reasonable grounds to arrest the appellant after he received the package and left the residence shortly after with a bag capable of carrying it.

The court upheld the trial judge's finding of no Charter breaches under sections 8 and 9.

However, the court quashed the appellant's summary conviction for simple possession of marijuana on consent, as it should not have been tried together with exclusively indictable offences.

The appellant appealed his conviction and sentence for possession of proceeds of crime and laundering proceeds of crime.

The trial judge found the appellant knew money was hidden in the trucks but failed to address whether the appellant knew the money was proceeds of crime, a necessary element of the offences.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and ordered a new trial based on this error.

The Court also noted that the Crown's expert evidence regarding typical excuses given by drug dealers at the border went beyond appropriate bounds.

The appellant appealed an order dismissing an application under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

The parties agreed that the matter needed to be remitted to a trial judge for a proper hearing under section 20(4) of the Act.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal as abandoned.

The appellant appealed his sentence.

The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and reduced the sentence to time served based solely on fresh evidence.

The fresh evidence demonstrated that the appellant provided difficult and important testimony in a murder case and experienced difficult circumstances during his incarceration, including being in protective custody for twenty-three and a half hours per day.