Gerald Alderson

The accused were charged with multiple offences arising from a violent home invasion where masked intruders assaulted the occupants and demanded money while armed with firearms.

The intruders fled in a stolen vehicle, leading to a police pursuit and their subsequent arrest in a wooded area.

The court relied on circumstantial evidence, including DNA on discarded gloves, flight from police, and the accused's presence in the getaway vehicle, to find both accused guilty as co-principals or aiders to robbery, break and enter, disguise with intent, and various firearms offences.

The accused, Soheyl Tahan, was charged with sexually assaulting the complainant.

The complainant had no memory of the events due to severe intoxication, and the accused claimed memory loss.

The court found the complainant lacked the capacity to consent due to extreme intoxication, specifically her inability to understand the identity of her sexual partner.

The court also found the accused's claims of memory loss and intoxication to be fabricated, indicating a guilty mind.

Tahan was found guilty.

The accused was charged with attempted murder and firearms offences following a drive-by shooting.

The Crown relied on circumstantial evidence linking the accused to the firearm used and the getaway vehicle.

The court found that while the accused was involved as the driver of the vehicle, the Crown failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he had the requisite mens rea for party liability to attempted murder, as there was insufficient evidence he knew the shooter intended to kill the victim.

The accused was acquitted of attempted murder but convicted of the firearms offences.

The defendant, Nicholas Walker, was charged with first-degree murder in a retrial following a Court of Appeal order.

The trial proceeded without a jury.

The Crown alleged Walker was the shooter and that the killing was planned and deliberate, stemming from prior acrimony with the victim, Clifenton Ford.

The defence primarily challenged identification and the elements of planned and deliberate murder.

The court, relying on circumstantial evidence including video footage, DNA, and witness testimony, found beyond a reasonable doubt that Walker was the shooter.

The court also concluded that the murder was planned and deliberate, leading to a conviction for first-degree murder.

The accused was charged with robbery arising from a bank robbery in Ottawa where the perpetrator threatened a teller and fled with cash before discarding clothing and sunglasses containing DNA evidence.

DNA recovered from the sunglasses strongly matched the accused’s profile and weaker DNA evidence linked him to the jacket found nearby.

Eyewitnesses provided only general physical descriptions and could not identify the perpetrator.

The court held that while the DNA evidence and circumstantial factors made it very probable that the accused committed the robbery, the forensic evidence could not establish when the DNA was deposited and required supporting evidence connecting the accused to the crime at the relevant time.

Applying the reasonable doubt standard, the court found the evidence insufficient to prove identity beyond a reasonable doubt and acquitted the accused.