The court dismissed the accused's application for a stay of proceedings, finding the pre-verdict delay was caused by his failure to appear and the post-verdict delay was justified by exceptional circumstances.
The court considered an application by Kenneth Hill to stay his charges for delay under section 11(b) of the Charter, following his conviction for aggravated assault and related offences.
The application was dismissed.
The court found that the pre-verdict delay was attributable to the defence, as Mr. Hill failed to appear for his trial after being inadvertently released from custody.
The post-verdict delay, related to a long-term offender application, was found to be reasonable and largely an exceptional circumstance, with only a short period of undue delay that did not breach the Charter ceiling.
