Liam O’Connor

The three accused, charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and breach of trust, brought applications under s. 24(2) of the Charter to exclude intercepted private communications.

They alleged their s. 8 rights were violated because the police affiant deliberately misled the authorizing judge regarding the investigative plan to establish reasonable and probable grounds for the wiretap.

The court found the affidavit was materially misleading, though not deliberately so, and that without the misleading information, the authorization lacked reasonable and probable grounds.

The court concluded the wiretap violated s. 8 of the Charter and excluded the evidence under s. 24(2), finding the serious police carelessness and subsequent false testimony by the affiant outweighed society's interest in a trial on the merits.

The accused, charged with the first-degree murder of his spouse, applied for judicial interim release.

The court found that the accused met his burden on the primary and secondary grounds, as he was not a flight risk and his proposed release plan mitigated safety and interference concerns.

However, the court denied bail on the tertiary ground.

Given the brutal nature of the domestic homicide, the very strong circumstantial case for the Crown, and the gravity of the offence, the court concluded that releasing the accused would undermine public confidence in the administration of justice.

Justin Soon was convicted by a jury of trafficking in property obtained by crime ($250,170) and possession of 143.4 grams of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, along with possession of proceeds of crime ($51,390).

The court considered sentencing principles, aggravating factors (financial gain, contested guilt on one count, involvement with higher-level trafficker), and significant mitigating factors (no prior criminal record, successful rehabilitation efforts while on bail, difficult youth, strong family and friend support, partial acknowledgment of guilt during trial).

The court imposed a global sentence of 3 years and 2 months imprisonment, comprising 18 months for money laundering (consecutive) and 2.5 years for drug trafficking (concurrent with 2 years for possession of proceeds of crime).

Ancillary orders for forfeiture, DNA sample, and a 10-year weapons ban were also made.

The accused was sentenced following conviction for sexual assault and breach of probation after groping a woman on a public transit vehicle while subject to a prohibition against being on transit property.

The court considered the offender’s extensive criminal record for similar sexual offences and repeated breaches of court orders.

Although the offender argued that treatment for a paraphilic disorder should remain central to sentencing, the court concluded that previous rehabilitative approaches had failed.

Emphasizing denunciation, deterrence, and protection of the public, the court imposed consecutive custodial sentences and a lengthy probation order with transit prohibitions and no‑contact conditions.