Elham Jamshidi

The Crown brought an application for certiorari with mandamus in aid to quash the decision of a preliminary inquiry judge who discharged the respondent on charges of possession of a loaded prohibited firearm.

The Crown argued the preliminary inquiry judge committed jurisdictional error by drawing inferences favourable to the respondent and failing to consider the evidence as a whole.

The Superior Court of Justice dismissed the application, finding that the preliminary inquiry judge properly applied the Shephard test and engaged in the permissible limited weighing of circumstantial evidence without choosing between competing inferences.

The accused was charged with aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, and possession of a weapon dangerous to the public peace following an altercation with a bouncer at a nightclub.

The Crown alleged the accused struck the bouncer with a beer bottle unprovoked.

The accused claimed he was surrounded by bouncers, punched in the face, and struck the bouncer with his elbow in self-defence.

The court found the Crown witnesses' evidence inconsistent and unreliable, while the accused's testimony was credible.

The court held the Crown failed to disprove self-defence beyond a reasonable doubt and acquitted the accused on all counts.