Monica McKenzie

A young person charged with six sexual offences alleged to have been committed between 1971 and 1976 brought a section 11(b) Charter application claiming his right to be tried within a reasonable time had been breached.

The accused was 55 years old when charged and 57 at the time of the application.

The total delay from swearing of the Information to the last scheduled trial date was 621 days (21.5 months).

After deducting minimal defence delay and one month for an unavoidable discrete event (judge illness), the net remaining delay was 20 months, exceeding the 18-month presumptive ceiling for provincial court cases.

The Crown failed to rebut the presumption of unreasonable delay, having caused significant avoidable delay through failure to provide timely disclosure, unnecessary adjournments during the judicial pre-trial phase for Crown convenience, failure to organize witness lists and police schedules, and failure to prioritize the case until the delay application was heard.

The court granted a judicial stay of proceedings on all counts.

The accused pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing bodily harm.

The Crown sought four to six months imprisonment, an 18-month driving prohibition, 12 months probation, and a DNA order.

The defence sought 90 days intermittent sentence, arguing the accused supported his parents and would lose employment.

The court imposed five months imprisonment, finding that general deterrence and denunciation were paramount in drinking and driving cases, particularly where bodily harm resulted.

The court rejected the intermittent sentence despite the accused's otherwise positive circumstances, emphasizing the serious harm caused to the victim and his family.