Ken Campbell

The appellant challenged a decision arising from a preliminary hearing in a prosecution involving alleged sexual touching during a medical examination.

The Court of Appeal held there was some evidence on which a reasonable jury, properly instructed, could find that the appellant squeezed the complainant's breasts and placed his hand underneath her pants for a sexual, rather than medical, purpose.

The appeal was therefore dismissed.

The appellant appealed a 12-month sentence for aggravated assault and sought a conditional sentence followed by probation.

The court emphasized the appellant's youth, first-offender status, remorse, positive pre-sentence report, strong family supervision, and the trial judge's finding that he was not a danger to the community.

In light of recent Supreme Court of Canada conditional sentencing decisions, the court held that denunciation and general deterrence could still be achieved by a conditional sentence in this case.

Leave to appeal sentence was granted, the appeal was allowed, and the sentence was converted to an 18-month conditional sentence followed by 9 months probation.