Texts on Trial: The Reliability of Digital Evidence in R v Aslami
With over 23 billion text messages sent globally each day—270,000 messages per second—and 2.52 billion people using messaging apps, digital communication has not only transformed how people connect but also how evidence is gathered in courtrooms. In R v Aslami, the Ontario Court of Appeal tackled the intricate issues surrounding text messages as evidence, highlighting the risks of relying on electronic communications to establish guilt or innocence.
‘Sexts’ as Evidence of Future Likelihood to Consent: Implications of R v Reimer
Sexual assault cases present uniquely challenging evidentiary issues due to the threat of prejudicial reasoning against the complainant. While Parliament and the courts have settled on a progressive legal framework to reflect these concerns, the application of these laws can vary considerably where the evidence suggests an intention of the complainant to consent.Recently, the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision in R v Reimer recognized that a complainant’s past sexual relation
