A young person charged with sexual interference and sexual assault brought a section 11(b) Charter application seeking a stay of proceedings based on unreasonable delay.
The applicant was charged on October 20, 2016, with trial scheduled to conclude by August 8, 2018, representing a total delay of 21.5 months.
The court found that the Crown's inadvertent disclosure of over 1,500 pages of text messages without proper section 278 application, combined with the Crown's failure to recognize the section 278 implications for over 14 months, constituted the primary source of delay.
After deducting defence waiver and defence-caused delay, the court calculated net delay at 18.6 months (or 19.2 months including deliberation time), exceeding the 18-month presumptive ceiling.
The Crown failed to establish exceptional circumstances to justify the delay.
The court also established a 15-month presumptive ceiling for young persons, finding that the 18-month ceiling applicable to adults does not adequately account for the heightened prejudice experienced by youth.
The charges were stayed.
