Case information

None.

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.

Criminal law – Evidence – Common law rule that spouse not compellable to testify – Circumstances surrounding murder of accused’s friend – Accused’s girlfriend making statements to police shortly after tragedy – Accused and girlfriend subsequently marrying – Statements admitted into evidence at accused’s murder trial – Application of R. v. Couture, [2007] 2 S.C.R. 517 – Whether Court of Appeal made serious error of law in finding statements made by spouse prior to marriage inadmissible without objectively analysing circumstances – Whether Court of Appeal made serious error of law in giving unlimited scope to R. v. Couture without regard for trial judge’s finding that non compellability rule not violated.

The Respondent Patry and the victim Régimbald had been friends for a long time. Patry went to visit Régimbald on the day of the crime. Patry’s girlfriend, who saw him at home that evening, made statements to an investigator shortly after the tragedy, thinking that Patry was innocent. She stated that he had been injured, had said he had been in a fight and then, after learning of the tragedy in the news, had expressed fear that he would be suspected of the murder. The marriage occurred a few months later. The extrajudicial statements were used to support circumstantial evidence against the accused.