C. Agatiello

The offender, a 21-year-old first-time offender, was sentenced for possessing a loaded firearm and 85 grams of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking.

The court considered the serious aggravating factors of the deadly nature of fentanyl and the danger posed by the loaded firearm during a police raid.

Mitigating factors included the offender's youth, lack of prior record, supportive family, and the impact of anti-Black racism and socio-economic disadvantage on his background.

The court also factored in harsh pre-sentence custody conditions due to COVID-19 lockdowns.

A total sentence of 6 years was imposed after applying the totality principle, with 55 months of enhanced pre-sentence credit, leaving 17 months to serve.

The accused was charged with three counts of assault against his wife and stepdaughter.

The allegations originated from a doctor's visit where bruises were observed on the child, leading to a CAS report and a videotaped police statement by the mother implicating the accused.

However, the mother subsequently recanted her statement multiple times, including during a 911 call, in an affidavit, and under oath at trial, claiming she had lied at the direction of her brother-in-law.

The child also testified that the injuries were accidental.

The court held that the unsworn police statement could not ground a conviction in light of the recantations and the lack of corroborating evidence.

The Crown failed to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt, resulting in acquittals on all counts.

The accused, facing firearms charges, brought pre-trial motions challenging the validity of a search warrant and a warrantless search of an Instagram account under s. 8 of the Charter.

They sought further disclosure and leave to cross-examine the affiant, arguing that a confidential informant was actually a police agent.

The court dismissed the disclosure and cross-examination motions, finding no evidence to support the police agent theory.

The court upheld the search warrant, concluding the information provided by informants was compelling, credible, and corroborated.

The court also dismissed the challenge to the Instagram search, finding the accused lost his reasonable expectation of privacy by accepting a stranger's follow request.

The accused faced 17 counts relating to alleged violence against his wife and two children between 2003 and 2015.

The court found the wife to be an unreliable witness and declined to convict on any counts based solely on her uncorroborated testimony.

However, the court found the two children to be credible and reliable witnesses.

Relying on the children's testimony, the court found the accused guilty of six counts of assault against his wife and children, and not guilty of the remaining eleven counts.

The accused applied for the production of third-party records from a school board and a children's aid society relating to two complainants.

Having previously found the records likely relevant, the court proceeded to the second stage of the O'Connor application to determine whether production should be ordered.

Applying the principles from McNeil, the court balanced the accused's right to make full answer and defence against the complainants' privacy interests.

The court ordered the production of the records, subject to redactions for plainly irrelevant and highly sensitive personal information.

The accused, charged with historical domestic violence offences, brought an application under the common law O'Connor framework for the production of third-party records relating to two complainants.

The records were held by a school board and a children's aid society.

The court found that the accused met the first-stage threshold of demonstrating that the records were likely to be relevant to the complainants' credibility, given the unfolding of the allegations and the potential influence of a school social worker.

The court ordered the records produced for judicial inspection.