Sandra Bacchus

At a preliminary inquiry, the defendant, a police officer, was charged with 46 counts relating to insurance fraud through staged motor vehicle accidents.

The Crown sought committal on counts relating to a fake accident on August 24, 2010, and on counts of attempt to obstruct justice.

The court found sufficient circumstantial evidence to commit the defendant to trial on the fraud counts based on the defendant's creation of a forged accident report that contained personal details of the fraudulent claimants and was circulated in a manner consistent with facilitating their insurance claims.

The court also found sufficient evidence to commit on attempt to obstruct justice counts, holding that the insertion of false provincial offense ticket information into accident reports constituted an attempt to pervert the course of justice by misleading police superiors.

The defendant was charged with thirteen counts of firearm possession and three counts of robbery with a firearm arising from a home invasion on December 24, 2011.

At the preliminary inquiry, the Crown sought committal on the robbery with firearm charges.

The defendant conceded committal on the possession counts.

The court found sufficient evidence to commit the defendant to trial on the robbery with firearm charges based on the doctrine of recent possession, the timing of the defendant's acquisition of the stolen firearms within hours of the robbery, and circumstantial evidence suggesting prior knowledge of the robbery.