The appellant was convicted of assault causing bodily harm and robbery.
At trial, the key witness recanted her earlier videotaped police statement identifying the appellant as the assailant.
The trial judge admitted the out-of-court statement under the principled exception to the hearsay rule, finding it met the criteria for necessity and reliability.
The Court of Appeal upheld the conviction.
The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, confirming that the statement was properly admitted because the witness was available for cross-examination and the statement was taken under circumstances providing a comparable standard of reliability to in-court testimony.
