Ronald L. Doering

The appellant, a Mental Retardation Counsellor, was charged with common assault after striking a severely mentally retarded adult patient.

The appellant claimed the protection of section 43 of the Criminal Code, arguing he was a person standing in the place of a parent or a schoolteacher correcting a child or pupil.

The Supreme Court of Canada held that section 43 does not apply, as a mentally retarded adult is not a 'child' or 'pupil', and a counsellor is not a 'parent' or 'schoolteacher' within the meaning of the provision.

The appeal was dismissed and the conviction upheld.

The Ontario Association for the Mentally Retarded sought to intervene in two criminal appeals before the Supreme Court of Canada.

The Court disallowed the interventions, holding that Rule 18(2) of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Canada has no application to purely criminal appeals.