CITATION: R. v. Dunn, 2026 ONSC 4070

COURT FILE NO.: CR-24-90000479-0000

DATE: 20260714

ONTARIO

SUPERIOR COURT OF JUSTICE

BETWEEN:

HIS MAJESTY THE KING

– and –

JESSE DUNN

V. Sayed, for the Crown

Y. Eshetu, for Mr. Dunn

S.A.Q. AKHTAR J.

Factual Background and Overview

Introduction

1On 12 September 2022, police received a call reporting that a man had been observed sitting on a bench with his head down, apparently unconscious, with various items strewn around him on a trail system near Wynford Heights Crescent in Toronto. Two officers attended the scene and found Mr. Dunn seated on a bench. After waking him, the officers decided to accompany Mr. Dunn out of the trail system to get him home safely. However, as they proceeded the officers noted that Mr. Dunn appeared to have trouble staying awake and looked very unsteady on his feet. They stopped at a bench and the officers called an ambulance. The officers asked for confirmation of Mr. Dunn’s identity and, in the process of locating identification, found prohibited drugs in his pocket along with a significant amount of money.

2Eventually, the officers searched the knapsack that Mr. Dunn was carrying and found a number of items, including:

• Crystal methamphetamine: 593.07g

• Cocaine: 35.8g

• Carfentanil and fentanyl mixture: 10.48g

• MDMA: 29.89g

• GHB: 389.15g

• $7125 in cash

• Multiple ziploc bags and a digital scale.

3Mr. Dunn was arrested and charged with five counts of possession of controlled substances for the purpose of trafficking under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, S.C. 1996, c. 19, s. 5(2), and the Criminal Code, R.S.C., 1985, c. C-46.

4At trial, Mr. Dunn denied that the drugs were his or that he intended to sell them. He testified that he was suicidal and had broken into a drug dealer’s apartment after tricking him into leaving his residence. Mr. Dunn said that he stole the drugs to go to a hotel so that he could consume them and kill himself.

5I rejected his version of events and convicted him of all counts. He now stands to be sentenced.

6The Crown asks for a sentence of seven years' imprisonment whereas the defence argues that a sentence of five years is more appropriate. Both sides agree that any sentence passed would require a deduction of any pre-sentence custody.

Mr. Dunn’s Personal Circumstances

7Mr Dunn is now 37 years old and is the eldest of two children born to his parents. Mr. Dunn advised the author of his pre-sentence report that he grew up in a drug household due to his parent’s addiction to crack cocaine. He had a difficult relationship with his father which led to him leaving home at 14 years of age.

8The pre-sentence report author interviewed Mr. Dunn's mother, who indicated that she and her husband had contacted the Children's Aid Society because Mr. Dunn had an uncontrollable temper. He was placed in a group home from June 2001 to August 2001. Mr. Dunn's mother also indicated that during this time period Mr. Dunn was suicidal and admitted to two different hospitals within Toronto for mental health issues.

9Mr. Dunn began to take drugs around the age of 14. His starting drug was crystal methamphetamine but since then he has experienced a wide range of drugs. It would appear that his use of drugs began due to his family background and in the context of his own moods of anger and depression. There is evidence that Mr. Dunn sought rehabilitation and treatment for his addiction, and once completed a six-week inpatient programme, however, he relapsed.

10When he was 19, his parents were evicted from their home and divorced a year later. Mr. Dunn's father passed away approximately five years ago and Mr. Dunn told the author of the pre-sentence report that he had been on good terms with him at the time of his death. He maintains a strong relationship with his mother.

11Mr. Dunn is single, has no children and lives by himself in an apartment in North York, Ontario.

12Mr. Dunn dropped out of high school in grade 10 and never completed his high school education. There are indications that whilst at school he was bullied because he was overweight.

13Mr. Dunn also told the author of the pre-sentence report that he had very little by the way of work history. When he did work he took general labourer jobs with his uncle. Mr. Dunn has been on the Ontario Disability Support Program since 2017.

14Psychiatric reports also reveal that Mr. Dunn would report suicidal thoughts when he was depressed and that he had attempted to commit suicide when he was 13 and 17 years old.

Aggravating and Mitigating Features

15Mr. Dunn was previously convicted of two counts of possession of a Schedule 1 substance for the purpose of trafficking contrary to Section 5(2) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. He was in custody for 169 days and received a further 30 days' imprisonment on the first count and 30 days' imprisonment concurrent on the second count. The two counts related to two separate occurrences that had taken place in 2012 and 2014. These prior convictions for the same offence must be treated as aggravating factors pursuant to section 10(2) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

16Nor can the seriousness of the offence be discounted. When arrested Mr. Dunn was found to have a sizeable quantity of commercial-level sales drugs, with an aggregate value between $65,000 to $70,000. These items were accompanied by recognised sale paraphernalia, such as a digital scale and the drugs in a pre-packaged form. The police also found a significant amount of cash on Mr. Dunn.

17I agree with the Crown that the nature of the drugs is an aggravating factor. Fentanyl trafficking has been the subject of a number of different cases, repeatedly pronouncing it to be an extremely dangerous drug: R. v. Parranto, 2021 SCC 46, [2021] 3 S.C.R. 366, at paras. 94-96; and R. v. Gill, 2022 BCCA 127, at paras. 53-57. The seriousness of the offence is compounded by the fact that Mr. Dunn also had quantities of carfentanil, a substance approximately one hundred times more potent than fentanyl: R. v. Ansari, 2023 ONCA 601, at para. 2. Mr. Dunn was also in possession of approximately 600g of crystal methamphetamine, another extremely dangerous drug.

18In considering the mitigating factors, I have described Mr. Dunn's personal background, which is extremely troubling particularly his exposure to drugs from a very young age through his parents. The defence has also put before this court letters from the Newport Centre and Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre. The Newport Centre shows that Mr Dunn at least attempted rehabilitative steps even though they appear to have failed and did volunteer work which benefits others in the community.

19The defence have forwarded a letter from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health dated August 2023. It reveals that Mr. Dunn has been diagnosed with: amphetamine use disorder; post-traumatic stress disorder; attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; and an unsupervised specified personality disorder. He has sought treatment for this set of disorders in the form of trauma therapy and residential treatment.

What is the Appropriate Sentence?

20In Parranto, at para. 68, the Supreme Court of Canada reviewed the jurisprudence relating to sentencing ranges where the trafficking of fentanyl was involved underlining the need for higher sentences where this drug was the subject matter of the charges. In R. v. Lynch, 2022 ONCA 109, 160 O.R. (3d) 241 the court held that the range of sentences for mid-level traffickers in fentanyl cases was five to eight years. The issues with fentanyl were observed at para. 17:

The problems that dangerous drugs pose for our society are well-known. They involve drug addiction, adverse health consequences and unfortunately all too often, death. Further, drugs are often sold to already vulnerable people, thereby exacerbating their difficult circumstances. Still further, there are the indirect costs to society through increased healthcare expenses, increased demands on the healthcare system, increases in robberies or other forms of criminal activity, and increases in violence. Simply put, the greater those risks are when a particular drug is being trafficked, the greater the offender’s culpability or moral blameworthiness for choosing to traffic in that drug.

21See also R. v. Ali, 2025 ONSC 1613, at paras. 21 to 23.

22In this case, this extremely dangerous drug was found with other drugs capable of causing severe addictions and life changing harms such as crystal methamphetamine and MDMA. In R. v. Villanueva, 2007 ONCJ 87, at paras. 40 and 47, MacDonnell J. noted the devastating impact of crystal methamephetamine in society.

23In R. v. Dosman, 2026 ONSC 1608, the court imposed a sentence of four years for the possession of 202g of methamphetamine - significantly less than the quantity found on Mr. Dunn.

24In R. v. Ticzon, 2016 ONSC 7299, the offender was sentenced to four years for possession of 64.1 g of methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking. The sentence was reduced and restructured on appeal to three years for trafficking and one year for a weapons offence: R. v. Ticzon, 2018 ONCA 198.

25In R. v. Mercier, 2023 ONCA 98, 166 O.R. (3d) 171, the court stated, at para. 23:

The parties generally agree that the sentence range for commercial or mid-level trafficking cases involving methamphetamine is between approximately 5 and 12 years in jail. A range of 5 to 8 years in jail has been held to be an appropriate sentence for commercial trafficking of cocaine at the kilogram level, even for a first offender. Therefore, the sentence of seven years in these cases, which involved the trafficking of large quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine, should be understood as falling at the lower end of the applicable range.

26What then is the appropriate sentence for Mr. Dunn? The cases put forward by the defence are distinguishable because Mr. Dunn is not a first time offender but someone who has two previous convictions for trafficking drugs in 2012 and 2014. Here, he was found with five different types of Schedule I controlled substances including close to 600g of crystal methamphetamine as well fentanyl and carfentanil.

27There is no doubt that he had been conducting sales of the drugs as evidenced by the large amount of cash seized from him on arrest. Moreover, the resale value of the drugs found in his possession amounts to between $65000 and $70000.

28As I have previously mentioned these drugs are a blight on society. Their consumption leads to further consumption and addictions. These drugs destroy lives and create misery not only for the persons addicted to the drugs but their friends, family and other loved ones. Mr. Dunn, as a trafficker, sought and received the financial benefits of selling these substances.

29I am required to balance denunciation and deterrence with the prospects of rehabilitation (as per section 718 of the Criminal Code). I take into account the background of this offence, along with the aggravating and mitigating features, including Mr. Dunn's personal circumstances as outlined above and the conditions of confinement that he suffered at the Toronto South Detention Centre. He has provided materials that showed that during his time in custody he experienced 32 lockdowns and 18 days of triple bunking. These are taken into account in calculating sentence.

30For these reasons, I agree with the Crown that the appropriate global sentence should be seven years, less any pre-sentence custody.

• This would be allocated amongst the charges as follows:

• Possession for the purpose of trafficking in crystal methamphetamine: 7 years

• Possession for the purpose of trafficking in cocaine: 1 year

• Possession for the purpose of trafficking in fentanyl/carfentanil mixture: 4 years

• Possession for the purpose of trafficking in MDMA: 8 months

• Possession for the purpose of trafficking in GHB: 1 year

• Possession of Proceeds of Crime Over: 1.5 years

31I understand that Mr. Dunn was initially released on an undertaking in respect of these charges but was then arrested on 9th January 2026 on a new set of charges and ordered detained on all charges before the court. Accordingly he has spent 165 days in custody prior to sentencing. On a 1.5:1 calculation this would amount to 249 days. This is to be deducted from the total sentence and leads to a remaining sentence of 6 years, 3 months and 23 days.

32I would also order that Mr. Dunn provide a sample of his DNA pursuant to Section 487.051(3)(b) of the Criminal Code. Furthermore Mr. Dunn will be subject to a mandatory prohibition order pursuant to Section 109 of the Criminal Code and is prohibited from possessing a weapon as defined by the Criminal Code for life. I also order forfeiture of the digital scale, the drugs, the baggies, and the cash seized from Mr. Dunn.

S.A.Q. Akhtar J.

Released: 14 July 2026

CITATION: R. v. Dunn, 2026 ONSC 4070