Following a lengthy criminal trial, the court considered warrant validity, Charter exclusion, and the sufficiency of extensive digital forensic evidence arising from a laptop seizure after concerned bystanders observed troubling images and messages in a restaurant.
The court upheld the search warrant on both facial and subfacial review, finding the authorization reasonably included forensic searches for images and videos as part of a child-luring investigation, and further held the evidence would in any event be admitted under s. 24(2).
On the merits, the court found the digital artefacts, browsing history, saved files, search terms, website visits, and Facebook activity proved possession of child pornography and intentional access to multiple child pornography images and videos beyond a reasonable doubt.
The court nevertheless dismissed the luring count, holding that although the communications with the youth and the fabricated social media personas came very close to proving the offence, a reasonable doubt remained as to specific intent to facilitate a listed secondary sexual offence.
