DATE: 20050315

DOCKET: C42516

COURT OF APPEAL FOR ONTARIO

RE:

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN (Respondent) – and – SALVATORE MAMMOLITI (Appellant)

BEFORE:

MACPHERSON AND CRONK JJ.A. AND WHELAN J. (Ad Hoc)

COUNSEL:

David M. Muttart

for the appellant Salvatore Mammoliti

Eliott Behar

for the Crown respondent

HEARD & ENDORSED:

March 14, 2005

On appeal from the conviction by Justice D. Austin of the Ontario Court of Justice dated July 28, 2004.

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

[1] The appellant was acquitted of four charges and convicted of the single offence of possession of a weapon dangerous to the public peace. He appeals the conviction on two bases: (1) the trial judge’s reasons do not comply with the sufficiency standard enunciated in R. v. Sheppard, 2002 SCC 26, [2002] 1 S.C.R. 869, either with respect to the evidence accepted by the trial judge or the basis for her decision, and (2) the trial judge erred in her interpretation of the elements of the offence in s. 88.

[2] We do not agree with the appellant’s submissions. On the Sheppard issue, the trial judge’s reasons were clear and comprehensive on all issues, including the s. 88 offence. With respect to the substantive interpretation of s. 88, in our view the trial judge’s reasons are consistent with the analysis of the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Kerr, 2004 SCC 44, [2004] 2 S.C.R. 371. Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed.