K. Ginn

The offender pleaded guilty to robbery and unlawful confinement after he and associates bound retail store employees and stole over $135,000 in merchandise.

The court accepted a joint submission for a 30-month gross sentence.

The court granted standard Summers credit and a modest amount of enhanced Duncan credit for harsh pre-sentence custody conditions, declining to grant a full 2:1 ratio due to the offender's 21 institutional misconducts.

The net sentence was time served, followed by three years of probation.

The accused was charged with three counts of sexual offences against his two stepdaughters.

The allegations spanned several years and involved both touching and intercourse.

The accused testified and emphatically denied the allegations, providing a detailed and credible account of events.

Applying the W.(D.) framework, the court accepted the accused's exculpatory evidence under the first prong, finding him entirely credible.

The court also found that even if the accused's evidence was not fully accepted, it raised a reasonable doubt under the second prong, and the frailties in the Crown's evidence raised a reasonable doubt under the third prong.

The accused was acquitted on all counts.

On a Crown application in a judge-alone criminal proceeding, the court admitted each complainant's evidence as similar fact evidence on the other counts arising from allegations of sexual abuse within a household involving three sisters.

Applying the governing similar fact framework, the court found an air of reality to innocent collusion because of family discussions, but concluded on a balance of probabilities that the evidence was not tainted by collusion.

The court held that the circumstances of the allegations disclosed a persuasive degree of connection across counts, particularly the shared family setting, opportunity, relationship of trust, and broadly similar pattern of sexualized conduct.

The probative value of the evidence on actus reus, credibility, and reliability significantly outweighed the low risk of moral or reasoning prejudice in a judge-alone trial.

The accused pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing the death of her 11-month-old son, who died from acute fentanyl intoxication after being exposed to the drug in their shared bed.

The court accepted a joint submission from the Crown and defence, sentencing the accused to two years in jail, less pre-trial custody, followed by two years of probation.

The court emphasized the primacy of denunciation and deterrence for offences involving child abuse, while also considering the accused's guilty plea, traumatic background, and rehabilitative efforts.