L. Daviau

The accused, a rideshare driver, was charged with sexually assaulting two highly intoxicated female passengers in separate incidents and with assault causing bodily harm against one of them.

The Crown successfully applied to use the evidence of each complainant as similar fact evidence on the other count, relying heavily on the presence of the accused's DNA on both women's breasts.

The court rejected the accused's testimony, finding the similar fact evidence and corroborating video surveillance overwhelmingly proved guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The accused was found guilty on all counts.

The applicant, a mortgage broker charged with multiple counts of sexual assault and fraud, brought a pre-trial motion seeking the production of third-party financial and police records relating to the complainants and other witnesses.

The court applied the framework under sections 278.1 to 278.9 of the Criminal Code.

The court found that while some financial records were likely relevant to the fraud allegations and the narrative of the transactions, the applicant failed to establish the likely relevance of personal banking records and police occurrence reports.

The court ordered the production of specific records that met the threshold and denied the remainder.