The accused brought an application seeking production of correctional institution records relating to inmate-on-inmate assaults, institutional responses, disciplinary actions, and injuries at a provincial correctional centre.
The request was advanced as either first-party disclosure under Stinchcombe or third-party production under the O’Connor framework to support a proposed defence of duress to a charge of assault causing bodily harm against another inmate.
The court held the records were third-party records and assessed the request under the O’Connor test.
The applicant failed to establish the threshold of likely relevance because the supporting affidavit merely asserted that a defence of duress would be raised and provided no evidentiary nexus between the requested records and the alleged offence.
The application was dismissed as a speculative fishing expedition.
