Fergus O'Donnell

The Crown charged the defendant with two counts of assault, attempted theft, assault to resist arrest, escape from lawful custody, and two counts of breach of probation arising from incidents on St. Clair Avenue.

The defendant was found guilty of assaulting and attempting to steal from one victim, assaulting a good Samaritan who detained him, and escaping that detention.

The defendant was acquitted of charges relating to the assault on a café owner, as the Crown failed to prove identity beyond a reasonable doubt despite an in-dock identification.

The accused was charged with operating a motor vehicle with excess blood alcohol.

The principal issue at trial was whether an admitted breach of the accused's Charter right to counsel should lead to exclusion of breath test results under section 24(2) of the Charter.

The breach occurred because the first duty counsel provided was difficult to understand, and the accused complained about this to officers.

A second duty counsel was provided between the two breath tests.

The court dismissed the application to exclude the evidence and found the accused guilty.

The court applied the three-part test from R. v. Grant, finding the state conduct was at the low end of the breach spectrum, the impact on Charter-protected interests was relatively minor, and society's interest in adjudication on the merits favored admission of the evidence.