2 total
Impaired driving charges dismissed after breath tests were excluded due to right to counsel breaches.
The accused, Bowen Fan, was charged with impaired operation and operating a motor vehicle with excess alcohol.
The Crown conceded the impaired operation charge.
The defence brought a Charter application alleging breaches of Mr. Fan's s. 10(b) rights due to language barriers and denial of access to a third party to obtain counsel information.
The court found significant informational and implementational breaches of s. 10(b) due to the police's failure to ensure Mr. Fan understood his rights, provide an interpreter, or allow him to contact a friend for lawyer details.
Applying the Grant test under s. 24(2), the court found the seriousness and impact of the breaches outweighed society's interest in adjudication on the merits, leading to the exclusion of breath test evidence and dismissal of both charges.
Accused found guilty of second degree murder after confessing to his ex-wife.
The accused was charged with second degree murder following the death of his friend, who was found beaten to death in his rented room.
The Crown's case relied on circumstantial evidence and the direct evidence of the accused's ex-wife, who testified that the accused confessed to the killing during a drunken phone call.
The court accepted the ex-wife's testimony, finding it corroborated by cell phone records and non-public details of the crime scene.
Despite evidence of the accused's intoxication, the court found he possessed the requisite mens rea for murder given the brutality of the assault and his subsequent actions to conceal the crime.
The accused was found guilty of second degree murder.
