Court of Appeal for Ontario
Date: 2025-04-17
Docket: COA-22-CR-0327
Before:
Michal Fairburn A.C.J.O., David M. Paciocco J.A., M. Rahman J.A.
Between:
His Majesty the King (Respondent)
and
Rapinder Bains (Appellant)
Appearances:
Kim Schofield and Hedieh M.Z. Kashani, for the appellant
Howard Piafsky and Chris Kalantzis, for the respondent
Heard and released orally: April 16, 2025
On appeal from the convictions entered by Justice Marquis S.V. Felix of the Ontario Court of Justice, dated September 8, 2022, and on the sentence imposed on November 25, 2022.
Reasons for Decision
[1]
Overview
This is an appeal from conviction for drug-related offences. The appellant appeals on the basis that the trial judge erred by applying a less onerous standard than required for purposes of entrapment.
[2]
Background
The matter proceeded on the basis of an Agreed Statement of Facts. In her capable submissions, counsel for the appellant focused on a single issue at the hearing of the appeal: whether the trial judge erred by inferring from the Agreed Statement of Facts that the officer had reasonable grounds to suspect that the appellant was trafficking in drugs when he communicated with the appellant in text messages. To this end, it is agreed that there is no specific reference in the Agreed Statement of Facts that the officer subjectively believed that the person with whom he was communicating was trafficking in drugs.
[3]
Analysis
We see no error in how the trial judge approached this matter. It was open to the trial judge, from the context of the Agreed Statement of Facts, to infer that the officer had the requisite subjective belief to proceed as he did. There is no stock in repeating the trial judge’s careful analysis in this regard.
[4]
Disposition
The appeal is dismissed. The appellant’s notice of appeal sought leave to appeal sentence, but this was not pursued. The sentence appeal is dismissed.
“Michal Fairburn A.C.J.O.”
“David M. Paciocco J.A.”
“M. Rahman J.A.”