Savreet Kaur Chuckal

This ruling addresses the voluntariness of statements made by Malik Essue, who is charged with first-degree murder, to police.

The central issue was the police's failure to provide a proper primary caution and their use of trickery during the interview.

The court found that Essue was a suspect in law, despite police assertions to the contrary, and that the partial caution given was inadequate.

The police also failed to inform Essue that the interview was being recorded and falsely told him he was not a suspect.

The court concluded that the police's deliberate omissions and deception undermined the fairness of the statement-taking process and Essue's ability to make a meaningful choice.

Consequently, the Crown failed to prove voluntariness beyond a reasonable doubt, and Essue's statement was ruled inadmissible at trial.

The Crown sought to admit ante-mortem statements made by the deceased, Sangita Sharma, in a murder trial against three defendants.

The statements concerned Ms. Sharma's business dealings and disputes with an alleged orchestrator of her contract killing, Mian Afzalaqif.

The court ruled on the admissibility of these statements under traditional hearsay exceptions (state of mind, statement of intention) and the principled approach to hearsay (necessity and threshold reliability).

The court found the statements admissible, deeming them relevant to motive and identity, and satisfying the reliability criteria despite defence concerns regarding the witness's credibility.