Ramona Sharon Abraham

Tristan Piper pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of his four-month-old son, Liam, who died from blunt force head trauma and other injuries inflicted by Piper.

The court considered aggravating factors, including the breach of trust by a parent, the vulnerability of the child, and Piper's failure to seek medical attention or disclose the true cause of injuries.

Mitigating factors included his guilty plea, remorse, and lack of prior criminal record.

The court imposed a nine-year penitentiary sentence, reduced by pre-sentence custody credit.

Brandon Crystal was found guilty of two assaults and one sexual assault against his girlfriend, Ms. P.D., and one count of failing to appear.

The court considered aggravating factors, including the breach of trust, victim vulnerability due to intoxication, and lack of remorse, alongside mitigating factors such as his first-offender status, rehabilitation efforts (sobriety, employment, counselling), and Gladue considerations related to his Indigenous ancestry and childhood trauma.

The court emphasized denunciation and deterrence while balancing rehabilitation and the principle of restraint.

A sentence of 22 months custody for sexual assault, concurrent suspended sentences for assaults and failure to appear, and 3 years probation with specific conditions was imposed, along with ancillary orders.

The accused, Attaul Raheem Ahmad, was charged with assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon against his mother.

The mother testified for the Crown, describing a violent, prolonged beating.

The accused testified in his own defence, offering inconsistent explanations for his mother's extensive injuries, including speculative falls.

The court found the mother's testimony consistent and corroborated by photographic evidence of her severe bruising, while rejecting the accused's unreliable and changing account.

The court found the Crown proved both charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

The accused was charged with possession of controlled substances, firearm offences, and possession for the purpose of trafficking marijuana following his arrest and the execution of search warrants.

The defence challenged the validity of the search warrant and sought to exclude evidence obtained from an unlawful cell phone search.

The Crown conceded the cell phone search was unlawful but invoked the Step 6 Garofoli procedure to rely on unredacted information from a confidential human source.

The court found the search warrant was validly issued based on the credible and compelling information from the confidential informant, even without the cell phone evidence.

The court upheld the warrant and admitted the evidence.

The defendant was charged with drug trafficking offences arising from a 2013 police investigation into crack cocaine trafficking from an apartment building in Oshawa.

Police received confidential human source information and conducted surveillance, including video surveillance of common areas, leading to search warrants for apartments 308 and 404.

The defendant challenged the warrants on Charter grounds, arguing deficiencies in the Information to Obtain and asserting violations of his Section 8 rights.

The court found the defendant lacked standing to challenge the search of apartment 404 due to insufficient evidence of his connection to the premises.

On the merits, the court acquitted the defendant of all charges, finding the Crown failed to prove possession of the drugs beyond a reasonable doubt due to lack of evidence establishing the defendant's occupancy, control, or connection to the apartment and the specific items seized.