T. Mackay

Victor Alvarado pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the fatal stabbing of his friend, Orlando Donaldson.

The court considered aggravating factors including the use of a knife, the significant victim impact, and the offender's criminal record, which included prior violent offences involving a knife.

Mitigating factors included the genuine guilty plea, remorse, the triable issue of self-defence, the causal link between his paranoid schizophrenia and his actions, and the harsh pre-trial detention conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The court emphasized denunciation and individual deterrence, noting that general deterrence is less significant when mental illness drives behaviour.

A sentence of six years incarceration was imposed, with credit for pre-trial custody.

The Crown brought applications to admit two hearsay statements from the complainant, who was unavailable to testify.

The first was a 911 call reporting a knife incident; the second was a sworn, cautioned, videotaped KGB statement describing both a knife incident and a hammer incident.

The court admitted the 911 call under the res gestae exception but excluded the KGB statement for failure to meet the principled exception to the hearsay rule as refined in R. v. Bradshaw.

The court found that while the KGB statement had procedural safeguards, it lacked sufficient substantive reliability due to the declarant's memory problems, significant criminal record, and material contradictions with medical records.

Sentencing of three offenders following a jury trial for a planned home invasion robbery.

The offenders entered a residence during the day, masked and armed with a loaded firearm.

They unlawfully confined one victim and shot another victim in the leg during a struggle.

They fled in a getaway vehicle and engaged in a high-speed police chase.

The court sentenced the getaway driver to 7 years, the offender who encouraged the shooting to 10 years, and the third offender to 8.5 years, with enhanced credit for pre-sentence custody.