Guy Loisel

The Crown appealed from a Quebec Court of Appeal judgment that reversed the trial judge's conviction of the respondent for dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm and death contrary to s. 249 of the Criminal Code.

The Supreme Court of Canada, in a unanimous oral judgment, held that the trial judge made no fatal error, took all relevant factors and circumstances into account, and that the Court of Appeal's intervention was not warranted.

The appeal was allowed, the Court of Appeal's judgment set aside, and the trial conviction restored.

The appellant brutally assaulted two individuals while in a state of toxic psychosis caused by voluntary drug consumption.

He was convicted of aggravated assault at trial, as the judge applied s. 33.1 of the Criminal Code, which precludes self-induced intoxication as a defence for violent offences.

The appellant appealed, arguing he should be found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder under s. 16.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, holding that a toxic psychosis resulting exclusively from self-induced intoxication is not a 'mental disorder' under s. 16, but rather falls under the self-induced intoxication provisions of s. 33.1.