DATE: 20060619

DOCKET: C44030

COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO

RE:

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN (Respondent) – and – BARBARA MACNAIR (Appellant)

BEFORE:

SHARPE and JURIANSZ JJ.A. and LANE J. (ad hoc)

COUNSEL:

Jeffrey Langevin

for the appellant

Lance Beechener

for the respondent

HEARD:

June 12, 2006

On appeal from the judgment of Justice Bruce E. MacPhee of the Ontario Court of Justice dated May 6, 2005.

E N D O R S E M E N T

[1] The appellant appeals her conviction of possession of property obtained by crime, contrary to s. 355(a) of the Criminal Code submitting that the trial judge erred by applying the doctrine of recent possession. The property, a truck, was stolen on November 29, 2001, and the appellant registered it in her name on January 24, 2002. Significant alterations were made to the truck during the intervening fifty-six day period.

[2] The appellant submits that the appellant was not in recent possession of the truck as motor vehicles are readily transferable and the alterations to the truck could have been made well before the appellant registered it.

[3] The question whether the appellant’s possession of the truck was sufficiently recent to permit an inference that she knew it was stolen is one of fact that depends on all the circumstances of the case. The trial judge found that the appellant was in recent possession of the truck based on the significant alterations that were made to the truck. This finding of fact is deserving of deference absent the demonstration of palpable or overriding error.

[4] The trial judge was also entitled to conclude that the appellant, in her statement to the police read as whole, did not provide a reasonable explanation for her possession of the truck.

[5] We are not persuaded there is any basis for appellate intervention in this case. The appeal is dismissed.

“Robert J. Sharpe J.A.”

“R.G. Juriansz J.A.”

“D. Lane J. (ad hoc)”