Court of Appeal for Ontario

Date: 2003-01-29 Docket: C37207

Re: Her Majesty the Queen (Respondent) - and - Charles David Parent (Appellant)

Before: Morden, Laskin and Feldman JJ.A.

Counsel: Christopher Hicks, For the appellant Amy Alyea, For the respondent

Heard: January 15, 2003 Released Orally: January 15, 2003

On appeal from conviction by Justice G. Renaud of the Ontario Court of Justice on August 13, 1999 and sentence imposed on September 1, 1999.

Endorsement

[1] The essence of the appellant’s position is that the trial judge failed to assess the Crown’s case based on all of the evidence viewed in totality but, rather, dealt with each issue related to the complainant’s credibility separately. He resolved each issue in favour of the complainant, thereby overlooking the significance of the number of problems with her evidence on a cumulative basis.

[2] In our view, the trial judge’s use of lengthy reasons and a seriatim approach to the issues raised by the complainant’s testimony was far from the optimal way to deal with the case. Having said that, the trial judge was entitled, after considering all of the evidence, to conclude that he accepted the complainant’s evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, and to discount or explain the inconsistencies in her evidence. We are not persuaded that the trial judge erred in his assessment of the complainant’s evidence or in his conclusion that he was satisfied of the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt.

[3] The appellant also appeals his sentence of ten years in total for the three offences after taking into account the 482 days of pre-trial custody, which the trial judge treated as two years. Although these offences are extremely serious and egregious, we agree with the appellant’s submission that the sentence is beyond the range for these offences. We note that the trial judge exceeded by a considerable margin the sentence suggested by Crown counsel at trial of seven and a half years minus the 482 days of pre-trial custody on a one for one basis. In our view, taking into account the pre-trial custody, an appropriate sentence is six years.

[4] The appeal against conviction is dismissed. Leave to appeal sentence is granted. The appeal against sentence is allowed and the sentence is reduced to six years concurrent for each offence.

Signed: "J.W. Morden J.A." "J.I. Laskin J.A." "K. Feldman J.A."