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The trial judge correctly held the Snapchat text was not relevant to the complainant's consent to the charged incidents and admission would risk prohibited twin myth inferences; the appellant failed to establish with precision how the text bore on a lawful issue at trial, so exclusion under s.276/278.92 was correct; appeal dismissed.
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The court held the Crown met the low stage one Kinamore threshold for proposed sexual inactivity evidence and ordered the matter to proceed to stage two.
Although tracking and DNA/Y-STR evidence established the accused’s presence and contact with the complainant or scene, the complainant’s alcohol-impaired and reconstructed memory was unreliable and the DNA evidence was consistent with plausible innocent secondary-transfer explanations; the circumstantial evidence did not exclude other reasonable hypotheses and therefore did not prove the accused’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, mandating acquittal.
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The court allowed limited expert evidence from a forensic nurse on mechanism and recency of injuries, with strict limits on terminology, scope, and prejudice.
Evidence that a complainant was sexually inactive or a virgin engages s.276(1) and the Seaboyer framework; the Crown must file a Seaboyer application specifying the proposed evidence and its relevance and a voir dire must be held before such evidence may be led.
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Post-conviction disclosure application in a sexual assault case. The court held the unredacted statement and DVD were prima facie disclosable, subject to relevancy review.
Voir dire on a s. 276 application in a sexual assault trial: the court found the proposed evidence engaged the rape shield regime but excluded it as prejudicial and nonspecific.
The Court held that any trial misstatement restricting cross-examination of the co-accused was harmless because counsel was able to elicit the material evidence sought and no specific excluded line of questioning that would have materially assisted the defence was identified; the trial judge properly exercised discretion under s.278.92 to exclude the defence-owned video and photographs because their probative value on consent and mens rea was minimal while the prejudice to the complainant’s dignity, privacy and broader public interests was significant; jury instruction concerning complainant’…
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The court held the accused met the stage-one threshold under s. 278.3 for in camera review of police interview documents the complainant had relied on.
The Supreme Court of British Columbia admitted expert evidence from Dr. Tracy Pickett on sexual assault injuries, semen leakage, and injury timing in R. v. Ali.
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