Robson Crim Legal Blog

Friesen was an appeal of the Crown that came from the Manitoba Court of Appeal (“MBCA”) in which the MBCA had reduced the sentence imposed at trial from six years to four-and-one-half years. The offence in question in Friesen was sexual interference and extortion. Friesen had met the mother of the four-year-old victim on a dating site.

The case of R v Ducharme (“Ducharme”) is a recent decision by the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench (“the MBQB”) concerning the murder of an inmate at Stony Mountain Institution, the federal prison in Manitoba. On April 22, 2019, a prisoner of the federal institution was fatally stabbed fifty-two times and left to die in his cell. Two inmates, Mr. Fisher and Mr. Edwards, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

Before getting into the facts of R v Chung (“Chung”), it is important to give a brief overview of the critical elements involved in the case, as well as a brief overview of R v Roy, the leading case on dangerous driving prior to R v Chung.

The case of Ontario (Attorney General) v G (“G”) is a complex and interesting case that deals with the issues of discrimination based on mental disability, transparency in judicial decisions, and conflicting rights granted under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (“Charter”). This case commentary will focus primarily on the discrimination that individuals found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder (“NCRMD”).

In 2016, the Criminal Code (“the Code”) contained a section which has since been repealed, section 258(1)(a), which read “where it is proved that the accused occupied the seat or position ordinarily occupied by a person who operates a motor vehicle…the accused shall be deemed to have had the care or control of the vehicle” [emphasis added]. This definition of “care or control” applied to the also-repealed section 253 of the Code.