DATE: 20040415

DOCKET: C39455

COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO

RE:

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN (Respondent) – and – PHAT NGUYEN (Appellant)

BEFORE:

BORINS, FELDMAN and SHARPE JJ.A.

COUNSEL:

Neil Jones

for the appellant

Frank Au

for the respondent

HEARD & ENDORSED:

April 14, 2004

On appeal from the conviction entered on December 6, 2002 by Justice Casimir N. Herold of the Superior Court of Justice.

A P P E A L B O O K E N D O R S E M E N T

[1] In our view, the verdict was not unreasonable. The trial judge was entitled to rely on the surveillance evidence of probable drug transactions, together with the evidence of the appellant’s presence at, or in the vicinity of, the barbecue, to support the inference that the appellant was aware of, and in control of, the cocaine located in the barbecue in the carport beside the house in which he lived.

[2] Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed.