Dangerous offender hearing. Issue of whether a victim impact statement from a previous offence (which accused was convicted of in 1980) was admissible in relation to determination of the dangerous offender designation.
Held: Victim Impact Statement admissible.
“Section 722(1) does not distinguish between regular sentencing hearings and dangerous offender hearings. It does refer to ‘any statement of a victim’ and does not appear to restrict its application, in the case of a dangerous offender hearing, to the victim of one of the predicate offences. When it later refers to the offence and the impact of the offence, it can be interpreted to refer to a previous offence committed against that victim.” In this case, there were similarities between earlier conviction and the index offences. Concerns about unproven or contradictory information would be addressed by s 722(8) CC, which requires the court to consider only the portions of an impact statement relevant to the sentence determination.
T. Engel – Defence Counsel