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Crown application to admit prior biting conviction as similar act evidence dismissed due to high prejudice.
The Crown brought a pre-trial application to admit similar act evidence in a trial for aggravated assault and forcible confinement.
The accused allegedly bit off the complainant's nose, and the Crown sought to introduce a prior conviction where the accused bit the same complainant's shoulder and arm to rebut the anticipated defence of accident.
The court dismissed the application, finding that the prior act was significantly less serious and that admitting it would create an unacceptably high risk of moral and reasoning prejudice.
Pretrial applications decided; accused's statements ruled voluntary, but gruesome photographs of complainant's injury excluded.
The Crown brought pretrial applications regarding the admissibility of the accused's statements to police and photographs of the complainant's facial injury.
The accused was charged with aggravated assault and forcible confinement following a domestic dispute where he allegedly bit the complainant's nose.
The court ruled the accused's statements voluntary and admissible on consent.
However, the court dismissed the application to admit the photographs, finding they had little probative value since the disfigurement and its cause were admitted, and their gruesome nature posed significant potential to inflame the jury and prejudice the accused's right to a fair trial.
