Thomas Goddard

The offender, a 31-year-old first-time offender, was found guilty of sexual assault after forcing the complainant to have vaginal intercourse twice.

The Crown sought 28 months' custody, while the defence sought 14 to 18 months followed by probation.

The court emphasized denunciation and deterrence, noting the highly aggravating circumstances of the major sexual assault and the offender's lack of remorse, while acknowledging his lack of prior record.

The offender was sentenced to two years in the penitentiary along with ancillary orders.

The accused was charged with multiple offences, including impaired driving causing death and criminal negligence causing death, after driving the wrong way on a highway and causing a fatal head-on collision.

The accused argued that his drink had been spiked with a 'club drug' at a nightclub, resulting in involuntary intoxication and total memory loss.

The court rejected the accused's testimony as not credible and found that his erratic driving was consistent with his blood alcohol concentration of 148 to 173 milligrams.

The court concluded the accused voluntarily consumed alcohol and found him guilty on all counts.

The accused applied for a stay of proceedings arising from a fatal wrong-way collision, arguing that the negligent loss of his hospital blood sample prevented him from testing for additional drugs and impaired full answer and defence.

The court held that the Centre of Forensic Sciences, while storing the sample on behalf of police, had a duty to preserve it and breached that duty through unacceptable negligence when the sample was improperly sealed and leaked during shipment for independent testing.

Applying the lost-evidence framework, the court found a breach of s. 7 of the Charter.

However, the court held that the missing testing results would only have had a realistic possibility of assisting the defence and were not necessary to advance the involuntary intoxication theory.

A stay was therefore refused.