Court of Appeal for Ontario
Before: Laskin, Watt and Hourigan JJ.A.
Between:
Her Majesty the Queen
Respondent
and
Aneal Rathee
Appellant
Counsel:
Mark Halfyard, for the appellant
Karen Papadopoulos, for the respondent
Heard and released orally: April 15, 2014
On appeal from the sentence imposed on August 27, 2012 by Justice Hugh K. Atwood of the Ontario Court of Justice.
Endorsement
1The appellant appeals the sentence of the trial judge alleging two errors: first, in not permitting him to address the court before the sentence was imposed; second, in finding that a conditional sentence was not appropriate in the circumstances.
2We would not give effect to either ground of appeal.
3The trial judge’s failure to permit the offender to address the court was inadvertent and amounted to a procedural error. In our view, having regard to the nature of the information that the accused wanted to bring to the court’s attention, namely, his remorse, it would not have changed the sentence imposed. It is clear on the record that the trial judge was well aware of and took into account the offender’s remorse.
4In any event, and having regard to the second ground of appeal, we are of the view that the sentence was fit in the circumstances, including the monetary amount of the fraud, the breach of trust and the lengthy period over which the fraud took place.
5The sentence appeal is dismissed.
"John Laskin J.A."
"David Watt J.A."
"C.W. Hourigan J.A."