Case information

Charter of Rights — Criminal law — Trial management — Direct indictment — Abuse of process — Inadmissibility of evidence — Disclosure of evidence — Exclusion of evidence — Whether Quebec Court of Appeal erred in analyzing what constitutes sufficient prima facie evidence of abuse to give rise to duty of disclosure in context of use by DCPP of preferred indictment — Whether Quebec Court of Appeal erred in its analysis under s. 24(2) of Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — Whether Quebec Court of Appeal erred in holding that trial court was correct to dismiss entirely his application for disclosure of handlers’ notes and source reports — With regard to motion to exclude eyewitness identification evidence, whether Quebec Court of Appeal erred in concluding that all police conduct introduced in evidence did not amount to abuse.

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.

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Payment card fraud resulting in total losses of about four million dollars was the subject of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigation that required physical surveillance, searches, the installation of dialed number recorders and the interception of private communications. The applicant was alleged to be the supplier of high tech components that made it possible to hack into point of sale terminals in order to capture and transmit users’ banking information, which was used to clone blank cards. The Superior Court decided a large number of miscellaneous motions at the pre-trial stage. It dismissed, among other things, a motion for disclosure of evidence or for a stay of proceedings, a motion for a stay of proceedings, a motion for disclosure of evidence and a Chesson motion to exclude an intercepted private communication, and it granted in part a motion to exclude evidence. It affirmed the jury’s verdicts and convicted the applicant of fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud and possession of instruments used in the forging or falsifying of credit cards. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal from the convictions.