COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO
Lauwers, Sossin and Pomerance JJ.A.
BETWEEN
His Majesty the King
Respondent
and
Vernon Rudolph Holder
Appellant
Counsel:
Vernon Rudolph Holder, acting in person
Sonya Shikhman, appearing as duty counsel
Étienne Lacombe, for the respondent
Heard: January 8, 2026
On appeal from the convictions entered by Justice Anne M. Molloy of the Superior Court of Justice on September 19, 2024, with reasons reported at 2024 ONSC 6473, and the sentence imposed on December 11, 2024.
REASONS FOR DECISION
1The appellant was convicted after a judge-alone trial of aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, and assault causing bodily harm. He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, less three weeks’ credit for pre-sentence custody.
2The appellant appeals both his convictions and his sentence.
3For the reasons that follow, we dismiss the appeals.
BACKGROUND
4All the convictions relate to altercations with a single complainant, KP. KP alleged that on December 26, 2020, the appellant hit her with his motor vehicle. She also alleged that he committed a series of assaults on her from the night of December 30, 2020, to the early morning of December 31, 2020. These later assaults occurred in one Mr. Sukhdeo’s apartment.
5Specifically, KP alleged that the appellant attempted to throw her off the apartment’s sixth-floor balcony and threatened to kill her. KP also alleged that, after the attack on the balcony, she and the appellant went back into the apartment, where the assault continued. In particular, she alleged that the appellant grabbed her by the throat and punched, body slammed, and stomped on her. Finally, she alleged that the appellant assaulted her with a beer bottle, a wine bottle, and a cellphone. These assaults caused significant injuries to KP, including cuts, bruising, and four lost teeth. During the course of the assaults, KP called 911 and described what was happening to her.
Decision below on the convictions
6With respect to the December 30th/31st altercations, the trial judge found the appellant guilty of one count of aggravated assault, three counts of assault with a weapon (one count each with a beer bottle, wine bottle, and cellphone), one count of assault causing bodily harm, and one count of common assault. This last count was stayed as duplicative: see Kienapple v. R., [1975] 1 S.C.R. 729. She also found the appellant not guilty of attempted murder and threatening death with respect to the portion of the assaults that occurred on the balcony. With respect to the December 26 motor vehicle altercation, she found the appellant not guilty of one count of assault with a weapon.
7The trial judge admitted the tape and transcript of KP’s 911 call into evidence. She did so for two reasons. First, she concluded that it fell under the spontaneous utterances exception to hearsay because it was made while KP was still under the appellant’s control. The trial judge also reasoned that the call was admissible as part of the narrative of events, including as circumstantial evidence of the credibility and reliability of KP’s trial evidence. It was thus exempt from the rule against the admissibility of prior consistent statements,