The accused was charged with murder.
At trial, the Crown relied on hearsay evidence of telephone calls made by the deceased to her mother on the night of her death, as well as character evidence suggesting the accused was a drug smuggler.
The accused was convicted, but the Court of Appeal quashed the conviction and ordered a new trial, finding the hearsay and character evidence inadmissible.
The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the Crown's appeal.
The Court held that while the first two telephone calls were admissible under the principled approach to hearsay based on necessity and reliability, the third call lacked a circumstantial guarantee of trustworthiness.
Furthermore, the character evidence was highly prejudicial and irrelevant to the murder charge, warranting a new trial.