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Hearsay application granted in part; co-accused's Snapchat admissions admitted, but messages implicating accused excluded.
During a judge-alone trial for attempted murder, the Crown brought an application to introduce Snapchat messages sent by an unavailable co-accused under the principled approach to hearsay.
The Crown sought to admit messages where the co-accused admitted to being a shooter, as well as messages allegedly identifying the accused as the driver and renter of the vehicle used in the shooting.
The court admitted the messages regarding the co-accused's own involvement, finding threshold reliability was met through strong corroborative evidence.
However, the court excluded the messages implicating the accused, finding they lacked threshold reliability due to significant hearsay dangers of narration, ambiguity, and sincerity.
Accused acquitted of attempted murder; circumstantial evidence failed to prove identity beyond a reasonable doubt.
The accused was charged with attempted murder and firearms offences following a targeted shooting where the victim was shot at 28 times but survived.
The Crown's case relied entirely on circumstantial evidence, including video surveillance, cell tower data, and the accused's subsequent use of the rental vehicle involved in the shooting.
The court applied the test for circumstantial evidence, assessing whether guilt was the only reasonable inference.
The court found reasonable doubt regarding the accused's identity as the driver during the shooting, noting inconsistencies in the phone records and alternative reasonable inferences.
The accused was found not guilty on all charges.
