The accused brought a pre‑trial Charter application seeking exclusion of cocaine discovered during a warrantless search following his arrest for possession for the purpose of trafficking.
He alleged violations of ss. 8 and 9 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, arguing police lacked reasonable and probable grounds to arrest him and that the resulting search was unlawful.
The court held that the arresting officer had both subjective and objectively reasonable grounds based on a reliable confidential informant, corroborating police investigation, and surveillance consistent with drug trafficking activity.
Because the arrest was lawful, the subsequent search of the accused’s person was a valid search incident to arrest.
The court therefore found no Charter breaches and declined to exclude the evidence.
