DATE: 20050826

DOCKET: C42211

COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO

RE:

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN (Respondent) – and – HEDLEY THOMAS (Appellant)

BEFORE:

MCMURTRY C.J.O., BLAIR J.A. and KOZAK J. (ad hoc)

COUNSEL:

Kristian Bonn

for the appellant

Peter DeFreitas

for the respondent

HEARD & ENDORSED:

August 25, 2005

On appeal from the conviction entered by Justice Robert J. Smith of the Superior Court of Justice dated April 8, 2004.

A P P E A L B O O K E N D O R S E M E N T

[1] We recognize as the Supreme Court of Canada did in Golden that strip searches are inherently intrusive and often humiliating and should not be conducted as a matter of routine. In the circumstances of this case however, we can find no error in the trial judges exercise of his discretion with respect to s. 24 (2) of the Charter not to exclude the evidence. The appeal is therefore dismissed.