The Crown brought a motion to adjourn a trial scheduled for June 27, 2019, in a careless driving charge under the Highway Traffic Act.
The Crown had previously indicated it would call four witnesses but at trial advised it would only call two witnesses—one police officer and one civilian witness who had not been served with a summons.
The Crown had made limited efforts to contact the civilian witness only within the three weeks prior to trial.
The defence opposed the adjournment, arguing it was ready to proceed and had relied on the Crown's representation regarding the number of witnesses.
The court denied the adjournment motion, finding the Crown had failed to demonstrate reasonable efforts to secure witness attendance and that granting the adjournment would disrespect the resources committed to trial preparation.
