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Mastermind of sophisticated kidnapping for ransom sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.
The offender was convicted by a jury of kidnapping and overcoming resistance after orchestrating a sophisticated plot to abduct a foreign university student for ransom.
The victim was taken from his home, drugged, bound, and held captive for 13 days before being rescued by police.
The court sentenced the offender, who acted as the mastermind, to 20 years imprisonment for kidnapping and a concurrent 3 years for overcoming resistance, noting the extreme gravity of the offence and the paramount need for denunciation and deterrence.
The court declined to impose consecutive sentences based on the totality principle and declined to restrict parole eligibility.
Crown appeal allowed and new trial ordered; pre-arrest observations were improperly excluded under s. 24(2).
The Crown appealed the respondent's acquittal on impaired driving charges.
The trial judge had excluded all evidence, including pre-arrest observations by a civilian and police, under s. 24(2) of the Charter due to ss. 8, 10(a), and 10(b) breaches.
The Superior Court of Justice allowed the appeal, finding that the trial judge erred in concluding the pre-arrest observations were 'obtained in a manner' that violated the Charter, as they were temporally and contextually distinct from the subsequent breaches.
A new trial was ordered.
