Judge dismisses appeal from man caught smuggling illegal migrants at Sault border crossing
A judge has dismissed an appeal from a man found guilty of trying to smuggle himself and three other people into Canada at the border at Sault Ste. Marie.
The man was stopped at the border April 15, 2017, and gave border officials four Canadian passports. Two of the phony passports raised alarm bells.
“The appellant was then questioned by the (border security officer) and stated that the group was from Toronto, worked in the Sault Ste. Marie area, and had been in the United States for a few hours,” the court transcript said.
“At the secondary inspection point, the appellant and other individuals were detained because (border officials) doubted the validity of the information being provided by the passengers after their brief questioning and because the passengers did not resemble the photographs in the Canadian passports.”
A search of the car yielded Nigerian passports hidden in a vent under the backseat and U.S. entry visas that matched the names on the passports.
“One of the officers compared the Nigerian passports to the detained individuals and formed the opinion that the individuals resembled the photos in those passports,” the court transcript said.
He was found guilty on two charges of violating the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act for helping people evade immigration laws.
On appeal, his lawyer argued evidence from border security that the people in the vehicle didn’t match the passport photos should not have been admitted.
The appeals judge disagreed.
“The evidence was a first-hand account of witnesses who made observations at the time the offences were committed,” the judge wrote.
“These direct observations were not fleeting, and the trial judge had copies of both Canadian and Nigerian passports to assist him in assessing the evidence from the witnesses. It was for the trial judge to consider any frailties in the identification.”
JUDGE MADE AN ERROR
The defence also argued that the trial judge made a mistake in assessing evidence central to his client being found guilty.
During the trial, the judge identified the wrong border officer as saying the photos on the Nigerian passports matched the suspect.
But the appeals judge said the fact that it was another border officer who made the identification didn’t affect the outcome of the case.
“The trial judge did not make a mistake about the substance of the evidence or fail to give proper effect to the evidence,” the transcript said.
“He simply attributed the evidence that he comprehensively summarized in his reasons to the wrong witness … In our view, the body of circumstantial evidence supporting guilt, which included the Nigerian passports and other items found in the car was overwhelming and readily surpasses the unreasonable verdict threshold.”
Read the full transcript here.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.