COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO
RE:
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (Respondent) – and – WAIL BALAWI (Appellant)
BEFORE:
DOHERTY, CHARRON and ARMSTRONG JJ.A.
COUNSEL:
Paul Slansky
for the appellant
Croft Michaelson
for the respondent
HEARD:
August 22, 2003
On appeal from the decision of Justice Tamarin Dunnet dated September 4, 2002.
A P P E A L B O O K E N D O R S E M E N T
1There is no basis upon which it could be said that the information retrieved by the U.S. customs officer from information stored in his computer system have been “gathered in Canada” merely because it refers to the theft of automobiles in Canada.
2There was ample evidence of identification apart from the evidence of what Bell would say at trial. That evidence was, however, admissible in any event.
3Apart entirely from the Criminal Code provision, the evidence that the appellant covered the VIN numbers by placing a false VIN number over it provided cogent evidence that the vehicles were stolen and the appellant was aware that they were stolen.
4The appeal is dismissed.
“D. Doherty. J.A.”