Lee Burgess

The Crown brought pre-trial applications to establish the voluntariness of statements made by the accused persons to police.

One of the accused opposed the application, arguing his statement was involuntary and obtained in violation of his section 10 Charter rights because he was not informed of all the investigations for which he was a suspect.

The accused also challenged the admissibility of incriminating videos found on a co-accused's phone, alleging a section 8 Charter breach.

The court found the police questioning did not violate section 10 and the statement was voluntary.

Furthermore, the court held the accused lacked standing to challenge the search of the co-accused's phone as he had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the videos.

The Crown's applications were granted and the accused's applications to exclude evidence were dismissed.

The offender was convicted of assault, threatening to kill an animal, sexual assault, and criminal harassment after luring the complainant to a remote cottage under false pretences.

The court found significant aggravating factors, including premeditation, the offender's prior record for sexual assault, and his subsequent stalking behaviour.

The court imposed a global sentence of 5.5 years imprisonment net of time served, along with restitution, a victim fine surcharge, and mandatory ancillary orders.