Case information

Criminal law — Procedure — Self-represented party — What constitutes inadequate assistance to accused not represented by counsel.

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(PUBLICATION BAN IN CASE) (PUBLICATION BAN ON PARTY)

C and V met in 2012 and were married within a few months. In November 2013, V left the household. She officially separated from C in 2015. Following the separation, for several months in 2015 and 2016, C sent threatening messages to V by email or by post. In his messages, he demanded that V give him money and said that otherwise he would send intimate images of V, file a complaint against V and jeopardize her application for citizenship. In the messages, C also threatened V’s father. He ultimately sent a third party intimate photographs of V that he had taken without authorization. C also changed V’s tax return without her knowledge so that she had to pay additional tax.

C initially retained counsel but later dismissed him and represented himself at his trial by judge alone. He was convicted of several counts, including distribution of an intimate image without consent (s. 162.1 of the Criminal Code), criminal harassment (s. 264), extortion by libel (s. 302), and mischief in relation to computer data (s. 430(5)).

On appeal, C argued that his trial had been unfair because of the inadequate assistance provided by the trial judge. He also argued that the trial judge had been biased. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.