Peter Swales

The appellant appealed his conviction for failing to stop at a red light contrary to section 144.18.1 of the Highway Traffic Act.

The evidence consisted solely of red light camera photographs and encoded data.

The appellant raised four grounds of appeal: (1) no photograph showed the vehicle in the intersection during the red light; (2) the court referred to outside knowledge not in evidence; (3) the prosecutor gave evidence via submissions; and (4) there was a reasonable apprehension of bias.

The appellate court dismissed all grounds and upheld the conviction, finding that the circumstantial evidence from the photographs reasonably supported the inference that the vehicle entered the intersection on the red light.

The Crown appealed a decision by a Justice of the Peace who granted a stay of a careless driving charge under section 11(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms due to delay in bringing the matter to trial.

The appeal was conducted as a review under section 136 of the Provincial Offences Act.

The court found that the delay of approximately 12-13 months from the notice of intention to appear to trial completion significantly exceeded the guidelines established in R. v. Morin.

The Crown's argument that the defence was not ready for trial because it did not request disclosure until June 24, 2014 was rejected.

The court found that the inferred prejudice from such delay outweighed any societal interest in prosecution of the highway traffic offence, and the appeal was dismissed.