Court File and Parties

Court of Appeal for Ontario Date: 20210210 Docket: C67505

Before: MacPherson, van Rensburg and Jamal JJ.A.

Between: Her Majesty the Queen, Respondent and Hoshang Dejdar, Appellant

Counsel: Hoshang Dejdar, acting in person Lindsay Daviau, appearing as duty counsel Faiyaz Alibhai, for the respondent

Heard: February 9, 2021 by video conference

On appeal from the conviction entered on June 27, 2019 and the sentence imposed on September 27, 2019 by Justice Chris de Sa of the Superior Court of Justice.

Appeal Book Endorsement

[1] The appellant appeals his conviction and sentence for importing opium and related offences.

[2] On the conviction appeal, the appellant contends that the trial judge erred by believing the Crown witnesses, especially the police officers. We do not accept this submission. The trial judge dealt fairly with the testimony of the various witnesses and was entitled to make the credibility findings he did.

[3] The global sentence imposed was five years. The appellant submits that this was too high and says that he has a heart condition and suffers when the institution is in lockdown. Although we accept that the appellant may have health issues, we cannot say that the five year sentence was unreasonable, especially in light of the fact that he has previous convictions for importing opium and trafficking in heroin. We note that the trial judge indicated that but for the fact that the appellant still had three years to serve on a previous sentence he would have imposed a sentence in the 8 to 9 year range.

[4] The appeal is dismissed.