Ms M. Hewitt

Following a judge-alone criminal trial arising from a motel room search, the court held that the accused had constructive possession of cocaine, cannabis, cannabis resin, and cash found in a gym bag in the room.

The Crown proved simple possession of the controlled substances, but failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the cocaine was possessed for the purpose of trafficking.

The court emphasized that expert evidence is not legally required in every trafficking prosecution, although the circumstantial evidence here left only suspicion rather than proof.

The accused was acquitted on the proceeds count because the Crown did not establish that the cash was obtained by crime.

The accused, charged with drug trafficking offences, brought a Charter application alleging violations of his rights under sections 8 and 9.

He argued his warrantless arrest was arbitrary and that the search of his motel room was unreasonable due to a defect in the Information to Obtain (ITO) and the search warrant.

The court found the police had reasonable and probable grounds for the arrest based on tipster information and surveillance.

The court also held that the search warrant was valid despite an inadvertent error in the ITO, as the issuing justice could not have been misled and there were ample grounds to grant the warrant.

The Charter application was dismissed.