Nusra Khan

The appellant, Mustafa Ahmed, was convicted of second degree murder following a judge-alone trial.

The case involved a fatal shooting during a bar altercation, captured on CCTV.

The trial judge rejected Ahmed’s claims of self-defence and provocation, finding his testimony not credible or reliable.

On appeal, Ahmed argued that the trial judge made palpable and overriding errors in assessing the CCTV evidence and misapplied the law regarding his subjective beliefs.

The Court of Appeal found no such errors and dismissed the appeal.

The appellant, facing extradition to the U.S. for alleged sexual offenses, appealed his committal order and sought judicial review of the Minister of Justice's surrender order.

The appeal challenged the dismissal of a disclosure application, arguing a nexus between alleged misconduct during arrest and extradition proceedings, and the committal judge's finding on accessing child pornography, asserting the private use exception.

The judicial review argued the Minister's surrender order was unreasonable due to impermissible delegation and insufficient consultation with IRCC regarding potential deportation to India.

The Court of Appeal dismissed both the appeal and the judicial review, finding no error in the disclosure ruling, confirming the private use exception is a defence not for committal judges, and upholding the Minister's reasonable exercise of discretion and consultation.

The appellant, L.G., appealed his conviction for gross indecency and sexual assault, which occurred in 1985-1986 when the complainant was 14.

The appellant claimed the sexual activity in 1987 was consensual.

The trial judge rejected the appellant's evidence due to inconsistencies with his police statement and implausibility, and found the defence witnesses' testimony incredible due to suspected collusion or tainting.

The trial judge accepted the complainant's consistent evidence, which was corroborated by independent, non-contentious details.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding that the trial judge did not reverse the burden of proof in assessing defence evidence and did not err in considering circumstantial evidence as confirmatory, as it was more consistent with the complainant's account.

The appellant, Julien Jutras, appealed his convictions for sexual assault and voyeurism, arguing that the trial judge's reasons were insufficient.

He contended that the trial judge failed to adequately address inconsistencies in the complainant's testimony and an alleged motive for her to fabricate evidence.

The Court of Appeal found that while it would have been preferable for the trial judge to explicitly address these points, the reasons, when read holistically and in context, were not insufficient.

The court noted that the trial judge clearly accepted the complainant's evidence, which was supported by the graphic photos, and that a failure to explain the rejection of a submission does not render reasons deficient if the acceptance of contrary evidence is clear.

The appeal was dismissed.