Peter G. Bawden

Following convictions for possession and access to child pornography, the Crown sought an assessment order as a preliminary step toward a dangerous offender application, arguing the index offences were serious personal injury offences under s. 752 of the Criminal Code.

The court rejected the proposition that possession and access to child pornography are necessarily SPIO offences and further found that, on the particular facts, the respondent's conduct did not meet the SPIO definition.

However, given the respondent's extensive history of sexual offending against children, the court found a sentence of two years or more would be appropriate, that there was a substantial risk of reoffending, and that there was a reasonable possibility of eventual control in the community.

A 60 day assessment was therefore ordered as a preliminary step toward a long-term offender application under s. 753.1.

The accused pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of heroin for the purpose of trafficking and one count of possession of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking.

The offences occurred while the accused was on bail and seeking treatment for his own addiction.

The Crown sought a 7-year sentence, while the defence sought a 3-year sentence, arguing for a reduction based on the accused's addiction and his surrender of a firearm to police.

The court found that the accused was a mid-level trafficker selling for profit, not merely an addict-trafficker.

The court imposed a global sentence of 7 years, reduced by 44 months for pre-trial custody and 4 months for surrendering the firearm, resulting in a remaining sentence of 3 years imprisonment.

Following a lengthy criminal trial, the court considered warrant validity, Charter exclusion, and the sufficiency of extensive digital forensic evidence arising from a laptop seizure after concerned bystanders observed troubling images and messages in a restaurant.

The court upheld the search warrant on both facial and subfacial review, finding the authorization reasonably included forensic searches for images and videos as part of a child-luring investigation, and further held the evidence would in any event be admitted under s. 24(2).

On the merits, the court found the digital artefacts, browsing history, saved files, search terms, website visits, and Facebook activity proved possession of child pornography and intentional access to multiple child pornography images and videos beyond a reasonable doubt.

The court nevertheless dismissed the luring count, holding that although the communications with the youth and the fabricated social media personas came very close to proving the offence, a reasonable doubt remained as to specific intent to facilitate a listed secondary sexual offence.

The defendant, charged with child luring via Facebook Messenger, sought to exclude Facebook communications as evidence, alleging a Section 8 Charter violation.

The court conducted a voir dire to determine if the defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the seized Facebook records, which included public profile information, private messages with the victim, and communications within a child exploitation group.

Applying the Marakah framework, the court found no reasonable expectation of privacy, citing the public nature of Facebook, the defendant's lack of control over the data, the victim's age, and the illegal nature of the communications.

The application to exclude evidence was dismissed.

The accused was charged with human trafficking, sexual assault, assault, and drug trafficking offences involving a 16-year-old complainant and her friends.

The Crown alleged the accused groomed the complainant to become her pimp.

The court found the evidence insufficient to prove the accused exercised control or direction over the complainant's movements for the purpose of exploitation, resulting in acquittals on the human trafficking and related prostitution charges.

However, the court found the accused guilty of sexual assault, assault, trafficking in cocaine, and trafficking in a substance held out to be cocaine.