Senem Ozkin

The applicant sought a review of a judicial interim release order that required a surety following a Crown onus bail hearing.

The Crown consented to varying the release to an own recognizance with less onerous conditions.

The Superior Court issued reasons addressing procedural and legal errors in the initial hearing, emphasizing the Supreme Court's direction in Antic regarding the ladder principle and the overuse of sureties in Ontario.

The appellant appealed his convictions for sexual assault, unlawful confinement, and uttering threats, arguing the trial judge misapprehended evidence, rendered inconsistent verdicts, and failed to consider the defence theory of consent.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the conviction appeal, finding no material errors in the trial judge's assessment of the evidence.

The Crown appealed the conditional sentence of two years less a day.

The Court agreed the sentence was a marked departure from similar cases involving sexual assault and intimate partner violence.

However, the Court dismissed the sentence appeal, concluding it was not in the public interest to incarcerate the offender given his 14 months of strict house arrest, prior bail conditions, and fresh evidence of a serious motor vehicle accident requiring ongoing rehabilitation.

The appellant appealed a decision of the Court of Appeal for Ontario that set aside his acquittal on three counts of sexual assault and entered convictions.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, finding that the trial judge misdirected himself on the objective test for sexual assault.

The Court held that the Court of Appeal properly exercised its power under section 686(4)(b)(ii) of the Criminal Code to substitute a conviction, as the Crown proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the touching occurred in circumstances of a sexual nature and the appellant would necessarily have been convicted but for the trial judge's error of law.