Accused charged with offences including sexual assault. Accused gave statement to police that was both exculpatory and inculpatory. Statement entered by Crown. Accused did not testify. Issue as to whether W(D) standard applied to accused’s statement.
Held: Convicted.
W(D) standard applied. Statement did not raise a reasonable doubt. Entirety of accused’s statement must be weighed, with the same burden of proof applying to both its inculpatory and exculpatory portions: Samuels, 2005 CanLII 15700 (ON CA). “Juries should not be left with the impression that exculpatory evidence is presumptively less credible as self-serving by comparison to inculpatory evidence”: Wruck, 2017 ABCA 155.
M. Walters – Defence Counsel