Me Kilondo Max Kilongozi

The appellant, convicted of assault and unlawful presence in a dwelling, appealed his conviction, seeking to introduce new evidence as an alibi.

The court applied the Palmer and Snyder tests for admitting new evidence on appeal.

The proposed new evidence, a witness statement, was deemed not to constitute a true alibi and was found to be neither credible nor reliable.

The court concluded that the new evidence was not sufficiently cogent to have influenced the trial judge's decision.

Consequently, the appeal was dismissed, and the new evidence was not admitted.

Three accused were tried on 42 counts involving firearms trafficking, drug trafficking, and related offences arising from Project Lancaster, a two-year investigation spanning January 2009 to March 2011.

The Crown relied heavily on wiretap evidence, text messages, surveillance, undercover operations, and expert testimony regarding firearms and drug terminology.

The court convicted the accused on various counts including offering to transfer firearms, conspiracy to traffic marijuana, possession of marijuana for trafficking purposes, and possession of proceeds of crime.

Key issues included the interpretation of coded language in communications, the definition of "firearm" without physical recovery, and the elements of conspiracy in buy-sell drug transactions.