Case information

Criminal law — Charge to jury — Accused charged with fraud over $5,000 in relation to large-scale payroll fraud — Accused terminated from her position as director of finance for a not-for-profit organization, fraud discovered soon afterwards — Crown not alleging any specific motive for fraud — In charge to jury, trial judge stating that jury could infer motive if it finds that accused took the money at issue — Accused convicted — Whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that the trial judge’s jury instruction on motive was proper

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.

For several years applicant Marcia Motayne worked as the director of finance for New Visions Toronto (NVT), a not-for-profit organization supporting children and adults with physical and intellectual disabilities. During that time she had exclusive control over NVT’s electronic payroll process. In 2015, Ms. Motayne was terminated from her position.

Shortly after Ms. Motayne’s termination, a large-scale payroll fraud was discovered. Money had been transferred through NVT’s electronic payroll process, via unused employee numbers, to various bank accounts registered in Ms. Motayne’s name. The fraud had taken place over several years and had deprived NVT of over $900,000.

Ms. Motayne was charged with one count of fraud over $5,000 contrary to s. 380(1)(a) of the Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46. She was convicted following a jury trial. Ms. Motayne appealed from the conviction, primarily on the basis that the trial judge’s charge to the jury was flawed. The Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissed the appeal.