Court of Appeal for Ontario

Date: 2017-11-03 Docket: C62615

Judges: Simmons, van Rensburg and Nordheimer JJ.A.

Between

Her Majesty the Queen Respondent

and

Hai Thi Pham Appellant

Counsel

Kim Schofield and Daniel Stein, for the appellant

Nick Devlin and John North, for the respondent

Hearing and Lower Court Decision

Heard: November 1, 2017

On appeal from: The conviction entered on March 23, 2015 by Justice E.E. Frank of the Superior Court of Justice.

Appeal Book Endorsement

[1] The appellant asserts that the trial judge made a palpable and overriding error in failing to make more detailed inquiries into the appellant's mental status when the appellant was testifying. We reject this submission. Following some inquiries, the appellant confirmed she was able to continue and that she had no difficulty with her memory. Defence counsel did not pursue the issue at trial (this was part of a voir dire). We are not persuaded the record suggests the trial judge should have made further inquiries. In any event, no fresh evidence has been produced to support the appellant's claim that at the time she testified there was a problem with her mental status such that it would interfere with her ability to testify.

[2] Conviction appeal dismissed.