The appellant appealed convictions for criminal harassment and harassing telephone calls, which relied entirely on the admission of an unsworn video statement.
The Court of Appeal found that the trial judge erred in assessing the statement's reliability by failing to consider evidence that the declarant felt pressured, compounded by the absence of an oath.
Concluding there were insufficient guarantees of reliability to admit the hearsay evidence, the Court set aside the convictions and entered acquittals on those counts, while leaving a breach of probation conviction intact.
