S. Dimitrijevic

The offender pleaded guilty to possessing a loaded prohibited firearm and possessing a firearm while prohibited.

The Crown sought a 3.5-year sentence with 3-4 months of Duncan credit, while the defence sought a 3-year sentence with 14 months of Duncan credit.

The court imposed a global sentence of 3.5 years, finding denunciation and deterrence to be the primary sentencing objectives.

The court granted 32 months of Summers credit and 10 months of Duncan credit due to harsh pre-sentence custody conditions exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a sentence of time served and 12 months of probation.

The accused brought an application to exclude evidence and stay drug trafficking charges, alleging his arrest and subsequent searches violated his Charter rights.

The court found the arrest and pat-down search were lawful based on police observations of a suspected hand-to-hand drug transaction.

However, the court held the subsequent strip search violated section 8 of the Charter because the police failed to properly document and justify the authorization for the search.

Despite the breach, the court declined to grant a stay of proceedings under section 24(1), finding the Babos criteria were not met and suggesting the breach could be addressed as a mitigating factor at sentencing if the accused is convicted.

The applicant, charged with fraud-related offences involving two different complainants in proximate periods of time, brought an application to sever the counts under s. 591(3)(a) of the Criminal Code.

The Crown opposed the severance, arguing the events were intertwined.

The court applied the factors from R. v. Last and found that the factual nexus between the counts was negligible and that joinder created a risk of prohibited propensity reasoning.

The application for severance was granted to protect the applicant's right to a fair trial.