ONTARIO COURT OF JUSTICE
CITATION: R. v. Darling, 2026 ONCJ 469
DATE: 2026-01-05
Toronto Region
BETWEEN:
HIS MAJESTY THE KING
— AND —
JAMEILAH DARLING
Before Justice J. Bliss
Heard on October 8 and December 19, 2025
Reasons for Judgment released on January 5, 2026
S. Scratch............................................................................................. counsel for the Crown
I. Gavran........................................................... counsel for the accused Jameilah Darling
Overview
[1] On August 2, 2022, Juqjuan Darling had a bail hearing in respect of a number of firearm and driving related charges. At his bail hearing, Juqjuan Darling’s sister, Jameilah Darling, and Bezia Wright offered themselves as sureties. Mr. Darling was released on a strict bail requiring him to reside with Jameilah Darling at her residence, unit 104-3023 Parkerhill Road in Mississauga, and remain in his residence at all times each and every night unless he was in the presence of one of his sureties or for medical emergencies or while meeting with counsel. He was also required to wear a GPS ankle monitor. On February 28, 2023, Juqjuan Darling’s bail was varied as he and Jameilah Darling were moving to a new residence, unit 244-1145 Journeyman Lane in Mississauga, as of March 1, 2023.
[2] On April 17, 2024, following a number of bail compliance checks, police made the decision to arrest Juqjuan Darling for breaching his bail. That evening they watched him leave 1145 Journeyman Lane and get into the driver’s seat of a white Mercedes that was parked outside his residence and drive away. One of the terms of his bail was that he was not to be in the driver’s seat of any motor vehicle. When police attempted to stop him, he fled and called his sister to assist him to cut off his ankle monitor. He drove to 3023 Parkerhill Road, where Jameilah Darling was, and she provided him with her kitchen scissors so that he could cut off his ankle monitor. Within one minute, he had cut off his ankle monitor and discarded it on the street.
[3] On May 16, 2025, Jameilah Darling pled guilty to attempting to obstruct justice by assisting Juqjuan Darling to remove his ankle bracelet, contrary to s.139(2) of the Criminal Code. While Ms. Darling admits to having provided her brother with the scissors to cut off his ankle bracelet, she disputes other facts surrounding her conduct as Juqjuan Darling’s surety that the Crown seeks to prove in aggravation. That led to a Gardiner hearing in which the Crown called evidence seeking to prove:
1. That Jameilah Darling offered to cover up for Juqjuan Darling following an altercation he had with a female at JP Bar and Grill on April 15, 2024 when he was out of his residence without either surety, and she offered to claim, falsely, that she was with him at the bar so that he could avoid a breach charge.
2. That Ms. Darling was aware of Juqjuan Darling’s repeated breaches of his bail and failed to enforce the house arrest term of his bail, and notably the condition that he reside with her each and every night when they were purportedly living at 1145 Journeyman Lane in accordance with his bail variation.
3. That Jameilah Darling was aware of her obligations as Juqjuan Darling’s surety.
[4] The defence admits that Ms. Darling knew what her obligations were as her brother’s surety but disputes the Crown’s other claims and submits that the prosecution has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, as they are required to do, that Juqjuan Darling was not with one of his sureties at JP Bar and Grill, or that he was not residing with Jameilah Darling each and every night.
The Law
[5] Where, following a guilty plea, there is a dispute as to aggravating facts that the prosecution seeks to rely on, the onus is on the Crown to prove the aggravating facts beyond a reasonable doubt: R. v. Gardiner, 1982 CanLII 30 (SCC), [1982] S.C.J. No. 71 at para 103. The strict rules which govern at trial do not apply at a sentencing hearing. Hearsay evidence may be accepted where found to be credible and trustworthy (para 97). Section 724 (3)(d) and (e) of the Criminal Code provides that where there is a dispute with respect to any fact that is relevant to the determination of a sentence, the court must be satisfied on a balance of probabilities of the existence of the disputed fact before relying on it in determining sentence. The onus is on the prosecution to establish the existence of any aggravating fact beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Evidence
[6] At Juqjuan Darling’s bail hearing on August 2, 2022, Jameilah Darling and Bezia Wright offered themselves as sureties and both testified. Jameilah Darling testified that she resided at unit 104-3023 Parker Hill Road in Mississauga with her 8 year old daughter. She was not working and was receiving social assistance through Ontario Works. She had up to $5000 in savings that she had managed to save for some time and was prepared to pledge that amount. Jameilah Darling testified of her daily routine to demonstrate how she would be able to supervise her brother and ensure that he was complying with the terms of any bail. She testified that she did not drive and relied on public transportation. Apart from taking or picking her daughter up from her school bus stop and running errands or going to the park with her daughter, she testified that she would not typically spend much time outside of her residence. If she was outside, she would be in the vicinity of her residence. If her brother was released, he would only be out with her or Ms. Wright. She testified how she would be home during the day and if she did go out, she would have her brother come with her and that he would not be left on his own very often. The Justice of the Peace was satisfied that Juqjuan Darling could be released on strict terms with Jameilah Darling and Bezia Wright named as his sureties.
[7] Juqjuan Darling’s release order required him to reside with Jameilah Darling at unit 104-3023 Parker Hill Road in Mississauga and remain in his residence unless he was with one of his two sureties or for medical emergencies or while meeting with his counsel. Significantly, he was also required to wear a GPS ankle monitor and present himself within 10 minutes of a door knock to allow for Police Bail Compliance Checks except while out of the residence in accordance with the bail order
[8] On February 28, 2023, Juqjuan Darling’s bail was varied as he and his sister were moving to a new address, unit 244-1145 Journeyman Lane in Mississauga as of March 1, 2023. Juqjuan Darling was still required to reside with Jameilah Darling, and all other terms of his release order remained the same.
February 27, 2024 Bail Compliance Check
[9] Police conducted a number of bail compliance checks. On February 27, 2024, at 8:50 p.m., Cst. Stojkov conducted a door knock at 1145 Journeyman Lane. When there was no answer at the door, he called Jameilah Darling and identified himself. His evidence was that she answered the call, said “just a second” and then the call dropped. He tried calling her back a couple of times without success and then at 8:55 p.m. left a message with his contact information. At 9:15 p.m., he received a call back from Jameilah Darling. She explained that her phone was updating when the officer initially called and that was why the call dropped. She advised that she was in the area of Dundas Street and Parkerhill Road in Mississauga with her brother. Cst. Stojkov spoke with Juqjuan Darling and the officer was satisfied that Juqjuan Darling was complying with the terms of his bail at that time.
[10] When Cst. Stojkov returned to the station he continued investigating whether Juqjuan Darling was, in fact, complying with his bail. He requested the GPS monitoring data from that evening that coincided with the officer’s bail compliance check. The information he received back raised suspicion about whether Juqjuan Darling was complying with his bail. Cst. Stojkov had contacted Jameilah Darling by phone at 2050 hours. At 2054 hours, the GPS monitoring data showed Juqjuan Darling in the area of 3 Aldcroft Road in Etobicoke. At 2056 hours he was travelling towards Highway 27 and then southbound on Highway 27 at 2058 hours. At 2114 hours, he was in the area of Parkerhill Road and Dundas Street in Mississauga, coincidentally, the same area that he and Jameilah Darling were living before the bail variation. One minute later, the officer received the call from Jameilah Darling that her brother was with her and spoke with Juqjuan Darling.
[11] Although suspicious, any inference that Juqjuan Darling was not with his sister but only travelled from where he was, to where she was, so that he could be with her when she contacted the officer, would be based on speculation. As it is plausible that Juqjuan Darling was with one of his sureties and that Jameilah Darling’s phone was updating, as she told the officer, to explain the coincidental sequence of events that followed the dropped call, the evidence does not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Juqjuan Darling was not complying with his bail at that time.
March 1, 2024 Bail Compliance Check – Costco
[12] On March 1, 2024, police again investigated whether Juqjuan Darling was complying with the terms of his bail. The police investigation showed that he left his residence at 1145 Journeyman Lane at 1813 hours and travelled to Costco at 5900 Rodeo Drive in Mississauga. Officers were dispatched to his residence and to the Costco to conduct surveillance. CCTV from the store showed Juqjuan Darling with an unknown female and two children. At 1934 hours, they left the Costco and returned to 1145 Journeyman Lane. Juqjuan Darling, who was recognized by Cst. Millar who was conducting surveillance, was seen exiting the passenger seat of a white Mercedes and carry groceries into the residence. The vehicle was registered to a Lara Rodrigues. At 8:15 p.m., the female got into the driver seat of the vehicle and drove away. She returned at 9:06 p.m. and entered the residence with two small children. The officer ordered a live video from the GPS Monitoring service of Mr. Darling and his surety. It was his opinion that the unknown female with Juqjuan Darling was not Jameilah Darling. When shown a MTO photograph of the registered owner of the Mercedes, he was of the opinion that the female was Lara Rodrigues. Cst. Sebastian, who had gone to the Costco and reviewed the CCTV footage was provided with the same MTO photo of Lara Rodrigues and was also of the opinion that she was the female with Juqjuan Darling at Costco.
[13] While it is clear that Juqjuan Darling was breaching his bail by being outside his residence without either of his sureties, there is simply no evidence to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Jameilah Darling was aware of him doing so.
The Assault at JP Bar and Grill
[14] Just before midnight on April 15, 2024, police were called to investigate an incident at JP Bar and Grill. Sophia Lindsay had called 911 to make a complaint and when police arrived, they observed her bleeding and with a swollen lip. Cst. Bentley was the supervising officer who attended the scene along with multiple other officers. Ms. Lindsay provided a statement that was captured on a body worn camera. On video, she told police that her assailant was not familiar to her, and that she did not know or recognize the person who had struck her. Cst. Bentley testified, however, that after the audio was muted, she identified Juqjuan Darling as her assailant.
[15] At the time of the alleged assault around midnight on April 15, 2024, GPS monitoring data showed that at 10:28 p.m., Juqjuan Darling had travelled to 286 Attwell Drive and remained there until 12:03 a.m. before travelling to an address in Hamilton at 12:37 a.m..
[16] If there was an issue with the identification of the individual who assaulted Ms. Lindsay, that was no longer in question given the intercepted communication between Juqjuan Darling and an unknown female at 12:31 a.m. on April 16, 2024. In that call, he admitted having assaulted someone he knew at the bar and had “broke this girl’s jaw” at JP. While Ms. Lindsay’s jaw was not broken, I accept that Juqjuan Darling was at JP Bar and Grill and, based on his own words, assaulted her.
[17] The Crown asserts that in that call, Juqjuan Darling told the female that he was with “two of the men” or men, the suggestion being that he did not say he was with Jameilah Darling or Bezia Wright as evidence that he was not with them. While I have listened carefully and repeatedly to that particular exchange, I am simply unable to discern the exact words he uses. Even if he did say he was with two men or men, his silence on whether either of his sureties was with him is not, I find, evidence capable of establishing that he was not.
[18] In a subsequent communication captured by police the next day after Juqjuan Darling had evaded police and was en route to his sister to have her cut off his ankle monitor, Jameilah Darling asked him what charge he was facing, and asked whether it was an assault charge, referring to the incident at JP Bar and Grill. She then tells him “don’t make it be like a breach…like if any, I was at JP with you or something so it’s not like you breach that too”.
[19] The Crown alleges that Jameilah Darling knew that her brother was outside her residence without her or Ms. Wright, had been accused of assaulting someone at JP Bar and Grill, and that she was prepared to say she was with him so that he could avoid a breach charge. The issue with finding that as a fact is that there was no evidence that Jameilah Darling or Bezia Wright were not at the bar, and there was no evidence from any witness of who was, or was not, with Juqjuan Darling when he went to the bar. It would be unsafe for me to rely upon Jameilah Darling’s ambiguous comments to her brother to find that she was essentially admitting that she was not at the bar or offering that she would say she was with him, knowing that she wasn’t.
[20] While I am satisfied that Juqjuan Darling was at JP Bar and Grill and assaulted Ms. Lindsay, the evidence does not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Jameilah Darling or Bezia Wright were not also at the bar with him, or that Jameilah Darling was not at the bar but prepared to give false evidence to say she was with him to avoid him facing a breach charge.
Was Juqjuan Darling Residing with Jameilah Darling
[21] The GPS monitoring data from April 15, 2024 showed Juqjuan Darling at 1165 Journeyman Lane from 1100 hours until about 1347 hours before travelling from that location. I accept that for GPS tracking purposes, 1165 Journeyman Lane is, for all intents and purposes, 1145 Journeyman Lane. There is no evidence that he was not with one of his two sureties during any of his subsequent travels including a stop in Hamilton from 1423 hours until 1610 hours before he travelled back to the GTA. At 2228 hours he travelled to 286 Attwell Drive and remained there until 12:03 a.m. on April 16, 2024. This coincided with the time that he was at JP Bar and Gril and the assault that took place just before midnight. After he left the bar, the GPS monitoring data showed him travelling to 30 Times Square Boulevard in Hamilton, not his residence at 1145 Journeyman Lane, and remaining there from 12:37 a.m. until 4:16 p.m.. He only returned to 1165 Journeyman Lane, according to the GPS data, at 5:01 p.m.. This clearly establishes that, at least that night, he was not complying with his bail that required him to reside with Jameilah Darling each and every night at 1145 Journeyman Lane.
[22] On April 17, 2024, police determined that Juqjuan Darling was arrestable for breaching the conditions of his bail from March 1st when he was seen at Costco without either of his sureties. Cst. Stojkov went to the area of 1145 Journeyman Lane to attempt to locate and arrest Mr. Darling. He received information from another officer who was also conducting surveillance that Mr. Darling left the address around 2025 hours and got into the driver’s seat of a white Mercedes. That would have been in contravention of the condition of his bail that he not be in the driver’s seat of a motor vehicle. Police attempted to stop Mr. Darling, but when they activated their lights, the vehicle swerved towards Cst. Stojkov’s vehicle, causing him to hit the median, and sped northbound on Winston Churchill Boulevard. The GPS monitoring data was consistent with the police observations and showed Juqjuan Darling at 1165 Journeyman Lane until 2019 hours, travelling at 2025 hours, and at Winston Churchill Boulevard at 2030 hours.
[23] Police had obtained a wiretap authorization for Juqjuan Darling’s phone. It captured Juqjuan Darling’s calls to Jameilah Darling after he had fled from the police. On April 17, 2024, Juqjuan Darling called Jameilah Darling at 2034 hours. He asks her, “Yo fam, where are you? You home?” She responds, “yeah”. He tells her he just left and the “boys”, meaning the police, were trying to get him. He tells her he needs to get “this”, the ankle monitor, off his leg, and asks her “do you have scissors there?” After she tells him “yeah, I have scissors” he tells her he will call her back.
[24] At 2037 hours, he calls her back and tells her he is going to be there “just now” and to make sure she is outside with the scissors quick so he can just go in and out. Jameilah Darling asks whether he needs a big scissors and tells him “I can try my kitchen scissors” or “I’m going to try my kitchen scissors”, but clearly refers to the scissors as “my kitchen scissors” She then asks if it was as soon as he left the building and then corrects herself to say, “I mean your house”, and then says that she did not see police when she left. She asks the charge and whether that was an assault charge, referring to the incident at JP Bar and Grill. She then tells him “don’t make it be like a breach…like if any, I was at JP with you or something so it’s not like you breach that too”. He then tells her that he is coming and to be quick. The GPS monitoring data shows him travelling to 3023 Parkerhill Road, where Jameilah Darling was, at 2041 hours.
[25] Security Video from the 3023 Parkerhill Road apartment building shows the white Mercedes pull up to the front door, and Jameilah Darling exit from the front lobby and hand something, admitted to be scissors, through the passenger side window to her brother. She then returns inside, walks past the elevators and towards a hallway on the 1st floor. Mr. Darling used the scissors that Jameilah Darling provided to him to cut the ankle bracelet off and discard it.
[26] As noted, it is clear from the GPS monitoring data filed during the hearing that at least on April 16th, following the incident at JP Bar and Grill, that Juqjuan Darling did not return to 1145 Journeyman Lane where he was supposed to be residing with Jameilah Darling. Juqjuan Darling had sought a bail variation on February 27, 2023 to change his address from unit 104-3023 Parkerhill Road to unit 244-1145 Journeyman Lane as they were moving to the new address on March 1, 2023.
[27] The Crown alleges that Jameilah Darling was not enforcing her brother’s bail terms, and that he was out of his residence numerous times without her or his other surety, Bezia Wright. There is evidence that would suggest that while Juqjuan Darling was residing at 1145 Journeyman Lane, that Jameilah Darling was continuing to reside, at least at times, at 3023 Parkerhill Road.
[28] First, there was the evidence of the police door knock at 1145 Journeyman Lane on February 27, 2024 at 8:50 p.m. which no-one answered. Ms. Darling did answer her phone briefly in response to Cst. Stojkov’s call and then the call dropped. He left a message at 8:55 p.m. with his contact information. Ms. Darling, who had lived at 3023 Parkerhill Road and did not drive, called the officer back at 9:15 p.m. to advise that she was in the area of Dundas Street and Parkerhill Road in Mississauga, and that Juqjuan Darling was with her. Coincidentally, at 8:54 p.m., just after the police contacted Ms. Darling and the call dropped, the GPS data showed Juqjuan Darling in the area of 3 Aldcroft Road in Etobicoke, then travelling toward Highway 27 at 2056 hours, and then southbound on Highway 27 at 2058 hours until he was in the area of Parkerhill Road and Dundas Street in Mississauga at 2114 hours, and 1 minute later, Jameilah Darling contacted the officer with her brother with her.
[29] There is the evidence from Juqjuan Darling’s March 1, 2024 trip from the Journeyman Lane residence to Costco with a female identified by police as Lara Rodrigues and two children that showed that he was not complying with the bail term that required him to be with his surety. While Jameilah Darling was obligated to supervise her brother, her role as surety did not require her to be with him at all times provided he was in his residence or with Bezia Wright. The evidence from March 1st, while sufficient to find that Juqjuan Darling was breaching his bail, is not sufficient to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Jameilah Darling was aware that he had left his residence.
[30] It is clear from the police surveillance and GPS monitoring data, that Juqjuan Darling’s residence was, at least after March 1, 2023, 1145 Journeyman Lane. The defence filed a tenancy agreement for that residence, signed by Jameilah Darling, as proof that she was residing at that address. There is, however, a constellation of other evidence that puts that claim in issue and strongly suggests that Ms. Darling was still residing at 3023 Parkerhill Road and had not moved to Journeyman Lane with her brother. First, there is the evidence from the February 27, 2024 when police showed up at 8:50 p.m. at the Journeyman Lane address. While she was not there, she did answer her phone, and when they spoke with police 25 minutes later, both were together at Parkerhill Road and Dundas Street which would have been close to the former Parkerhill Road residence.
[31] When Juqjuan Darling left JP Bar and Grill at 12:03 a.m. on April 16, 2024, he travelled to an address in Hamilton and did not return to 1145 Journeyman Lane until that afternoon. While the evidence does not establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Jameilah Darling or Bezia Wright were with Juqjuan Darling at the bar, if Jameilah Darling was with her brother at the bar, as she suggested in her call with him, she would have been aware that he did not return to their residence where he was required to be each and every night but did not call the police to report the breach.
[32] Next, and most damning, is that when Juqjuan Darling called his sister after fleeing from the police, he asked her if she was at “home” as he needed to “cut the thing off”, and when she said yes, he drove to 3023 Parkerhill Road not 1145 Journeyman Lane without anyone mentioning the address. During that call Jameilah Darling tells her brother “I can try my kitchen scissors”. There is no other reasonable inference from that comment other than she is referring to her kitchen scissors in her home, being 3023 Parkerhill Road. When she questions if they, meaning the police, tried to get him after he left the building or the house, she did say that she did not see them when she left, which does suggest that she would frequent the Journeyman Lane apartment, but it does not mean that she was not also continuing to reside at 3023 Parkerhill Road.
[33] Finally, when Juqjuan Darling drives up to 3023 Parkerhill Road, security video shows Jameilah Darling exit from the front lobby and hand what she admitted were scissors to her brother and then return to the apartment building and walk past the elevators and towards a hallway on the 1st floor which is consistent with a unit on the first floor and in particular, unit 104. I find that all of this evidence, in its entirety, establishes beyond a reasonable doubt, that Juqjuan Darling was not residing with Jameilah Darling and that she was continuing to reside, at times, at 3023 Parkerhill Road notwithstanding the bail variation and bail term that required Juqjuan Darling to reside with her at 1145 Journeyman Lane each and every night.
Conclusion
[34] I find that the while the prosecution has not established beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Darling was aware of all the times that Juqjuan Darling was breaching his bail by being out of his residence without either her or Bezia Wright, I do find that there is no other reasonable inference other than the fact that Ms. Darling maintained the 3023 Parkerhill apartment and resided there, at times, while her brother was residing at the Journeyman Lane apartment that she had signed the lease for.
[35] While a lease was filed purportedly signed by Ms. Darling as proof of residency, if she was living at Journeyman Lane and not at 3023 Parkerhill Road, why was she around the Parkerhill Road area when police sought confirmation that her brother was complying with his bail on February 27, 2024? Why did Juqjuan Darling travel to 3023 Parkerhill Road when he asked her if she was at home without being told where she was when he sought her assistance to cut off his ankle monitor? Why did she refer to “my kitchen scissors” that she retrieved to provide to her brother when he arrived at the front door of the building? And why was she seen walking down the hallway on the 1st floor which is, at minimum, not inconsistent with where unit 104, her apartment at 3023 Parkerhill Road, would have been located?
[36] I do not find that the lease, nor Jameilah Darling’s exchange with her brother on April 17th after he fled from police and was seeking her help to remove his ankle monitor, raises a reasonable doubt about her residing each and every night at 1145 Journeyman Lane. In that exchange, he asks her to keep looking out in case the police try to come over there, and she responds, “if they come, fuck I’m not even at..like I don’t…if they come like, I don’t live here. I can’t answer. Why would they come here?” The comment is simply an acknowledgement that as far as the police were aware, she was no longer living at Parkerhill Road and they would have no reason to go to that address to find her.
[37] The prosecution has established beyond a reasonable doubt that Jameilah Darling knew her obligations as a surety, that those obligations included having Juqjuan Darling reside with her each and every night at 1145 Journeyman Lane, and that Jameilah Darling was not residing at Journeyman Lane each and every night and supervising her brother, but that she was, at times, residing at 3023 Parkerhill Road and that she knowingly abdicated her responsibility to ensure he was residing with her each and every night as she was not always there to supervise him.
Released: January 5, 2026
Signed: Justice J. Bliss