Tyler Donald Koverko

The accused, Robert Wissink, brought a pre-trial application seeking a declaration that a search and seizure violated his Charter rights under sections 8 and 7, and an order to exclude evidence under section 24(2).

The application challenged the facial validity of the search warrant, arguing the Information to Obtain Search Warrant (ITO) lacked sufficient information, particularly regarding the currency of the evidence.

The court dismissed the application, finding that the ITO provided reasonable and probable grounds for the warrant, and that the passage of time did not render the information stale given the nature of child pornography offenses and electronic evidence.

No Charter breaches were found.

The accused pleaded guilty to sexual interference of a child under 16 years of age.

The offence involved systematic sexual abuse of an 11-year-old victim over a one-year period from January 2017 to January 2018.

The accused, a 43-year-old family friend residing in the victim's home, engaged in repeated vaginal and anal intercourse, penetration with various objects, and exposure to pornography.

The victim was discovered by a sibling on January 14, 2018.

The court imposed a sentence of 6.5 years imprisonment, considering the serious aggravating factors balanced against the mitigating factor of an early guilty plea.

The accused was charged with common assault against his common-law spouse.

The complainant recanted her allegations orally, in writing, and under oath at a bail hearing, stating she had fabricated them.

Despite this, the Crown proceeded to trial without taking steps to evaluate the viability of the prosecution.

At trial, the complainant again testified that the allegations were false.

The Crown invited an acquittal.

The court found that the Crown's decision to proceed violated the accused's section 7 Charter rights by failing to conduct an objective assessment of whether there was a reasonable prospect of conviction.

The court also found the Crown's opposition to bail was not fairly exercised.

An acquittal was entered and costs were awarded against the Crown.