Case information

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Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

On April 21, 2000, the Appellants, Justin Perrier and Chi Cheong Chan, were convicted of a number of counts of breaking and entering, robbery, unlawful confinement and possession of stolen property. The only issue at trial was identity. The charges arose from three separate incidents, epitomized as “home invasions”, which occurred in Vancouver between December 15, 1997 and January 14, 1998. Over the course of a month, on three separate days, a gang of men invaded the homes of three families in the Vancouver area. The method of operation adopted by the gang was distinctive. One of its members, disguised as a postman and carrying a package, in daylight hours, would ring the doorbell of the targeted home. The “postman” and two accomplices would then overpower the person who answered the door (Asian women in all three incidents). Once inside the home, the intruders contacted, by cell phone or walkie-talkies, others who were to enter the home. On each occasion the occupant or occupants of the home were bound with duct tape while members of the gang searched the home for valuables. According to the victims up to five or six people were involved in each incident.

The first incident occurred on December 15, 1997 in a residence on East 19th Avenue. The second occurred on January 2, 1998 in a home on Osler Street. And, the last incident occurred on January 14, 1998 in a residence on Fraserview Drive. The Appellant Perrier was charged with offences relating to the first two incidents. Prior to the trial he had been convicted of robbery and break and enter in relation to the Fraserview incident. The Appellant Chan was charged with offences relating to all three incidents.

The theory of the Crown was that membership in the gang rotated, but that Chan and Perrier were involved in all three incidents. The evidence against Chan consisted of the testimony of George Wang, an accomplice; stolen identification from one of the victims found by the police in a search of Chan’s residence and evidence that numerous cell telephone calls and pager messages were left between Chan and Wang just before and after each incident. The case against Perrier also depended to some extent on the evidence of Wang. Nothing beyond Wang’s testimony tied Chan to any of the three incidents except the stolen property, the record of calls and his concern expressed to Wang about Braun. Perrier was linked to the Fraserview incident with the evidence acquired after his arrest.

At the beginning of the trial, the Crown sought and obtained a ruling from the trial judge that evidence of Perrier’s involvement in the Fraserview incident could be led as similar fact evidence of his involvement in the East 19th Avenue and Osler Street crimes. The jury convicted each Appellant of all charges. On appeal, the majority of the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeals. Ryan J.A. dissenting would have allowed the appeals on the basis that the trial judge erred in directing the jury that they could consider the evidence on each respective count as similar fact evidence on the issue of identification on the other counts.