Justice S. Latimer

The accused pleaded guilty to three firearms offences: possession of restricted firearms (contrary to s. 95), careless storage of a firearm (contrary to s. 86), and occupant of a motor vehicle with knowledge of a firearm (contrary to s. 94).

The accused inherited his father's firearms collection following his parents' deaths and unlawfully possessed handguns for approximately eight months.

The accused accidentally shot himself with one of the handguns, leading to police discovery of the weapons.

The court imposed a 12-month conditional sentence with electronic monitoring and home confinement for the first six months, finding that while firearms offences are serious, the accused's lack of criminal record, remorse, prosocial character, and the context of his parents' recent deaths warranted a conditional sentence rather than incarceration.

The offender was convicted of sexually touching a 15-year-old boy, a former student and friend of his son, whom he was mentoring.

The offender, a former school vice principal and church youth leader, unbuttoned the victim's pants and touched his penis while telling him this would help him play a video game better.

The offence was opportunistic and occurred during a sleepover.

The court imposed a 10-month jail sentence, emphasizing the breach of trust, the vulnerability of the victim, and the significant psychological harm caused.

The court rejected the Crown's request for one year and the defence request for 14 days, finding the appropriate sentence fell within the established range for sexual interference offences.