Trevor-John Kenneth Burgis

The accused was convicted of being an occupant of a hotel room while knowingly permitting two 15-year-old females to use the room for acts of prostitution, contrary to section 171 of the Criminal Code.

The Crown proceeded by indictment, triggering a mandatory minimum sentence of 12 months imprisonment.

The accused challenged the constitutionality of the mandatory minimum sentence as violating section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (cruel and unusual punishment).

The court determined that a fit sentence without the mandatory minimum would be 60 days imprisonment followed by probation.

Finding that the 12-month mandatory minimum was grossly disproportionate to the circumstances of the case, the court declared the mandatory minimum unconstitutional as applied and imposed the alternative sentence.

Two accused were tried jointly on charges arising from their involvement with two 15-year-old girls who engaged in prostitution at a Peterborough motel.

The Crown alleged that the accused knowingly permitted the girls to use a hotel room for prohibited sexual activity, and that one accused exercised influence over the girls' movements.

The trial judge found both accused guilty of knowingly permitting minors to engage in prohibited sexual activity under s. 171 of the Criminal Code.

However, the trial judge acquitted one accused of exercising influence over the girls' movements, finding insufficient evidence of exploitation or coercion.

The other accused was convicted of receiving money derived from illegal sexual services and possession of cocaine.

The accused, an Unregulated Care Provider at a retirement residence, was charged with theft of 30 oxycodone tablets prescribed to a resident.

The Crown's case was circumstantial, establishing that the tablets and all records of their existence disappeared during a 16-hour period when only two UCPs had access to the locked narcotic box.

While the court found the evidence persuasive that the theft was committed by one of the two UCPs and that the accused was the likely culprit, the incomplete narcotic count sheet created reasonable doubt as to whether the tablets were present at the end of the accused's shift.

The accused was acquitted.