Patricia A. Babcock

The appellant was convicted of drug trafficking after selling marijuana to an undercover police officer.

The meeting was arranged by a friend of the appellant who was acting as a police informant in exchange for consideration on his own pending charges.

The appellant argued he was entrapped into committing the offence due to persistent phone calls and pressure from his friend.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, finding that the police acted on reasonable suspicion and merely provided an opportunity to commit the offence, without employing tactics that would induce an average person to commit the crime.

The appellant was convicted of drug trafficking after persistently refusing the approaches of a police informer over six months.

He eventually sold drugs to the informer due to persistent requests, threats, and a large monetary inducement.

The Supreme Court of Canada allowed the appeal and entered a stay of proceedings, holding that entrapment is not a substantive defence but an aspect of abuse of process to be decided by the trial judge.

The Court established an objective test for entrapment, finding that the police conduct in this case went beyond merely providing an opportunity and amounted to an abuse of process.