R. v. Quartey

R. v. Quartey
Collection
Supreme Court Judgments
Date
2018-12-14
Neutral citation
2018 SCC 59
Report
[2018] 3 SCR 687
Case number
38026
Judges
Moldaver, Michael J.; Karakatsanis, Andromache; Côté, Suzanne; Brown, Russell; Martin, Sheilah
On appeal from
Alberta
Notes
SCC Case Information
Decision Content
SUPREME COURT OF CANADA
Citation: R. v. Quartey, 2018 SCC 59, [2018] 3 S.C.R. 687
Appeal heard: December 14, 2018
Judgment rendered: December 14, 2018
Docket: 38026
Between:
Kingsley Yianomah Quartey
Appellant
and
Her Majesty The Queen
Respondent
Coram: Moldaver, Karakatsanis, Côté, Brown and Martin JJ.
Reasons for Judgment:
(paras. 1 to 3)
Brown J. (Moldaver, Karakatsanis, Côté and Martin JJ. concurring)
R. v. Quartey, 2018 SCC 59, [2018] 3 S.C.R. 687
Kingsley Yianomah Quartey Appellant
v.
Her Majesty The Queen Respondent
Indexed as: R. v. Quartey
2018 SCC 59
File No.: 38026.
2018: December 14.
Present: Moldaver, Karakatsanis, Côté, Brown and Martin JJ.
on appeal from the court of appeal for alberta
Criminal law — Evidence — Assessment — Credibility — Burden of proof — Generalizations and stereotypes — Accused convicted of sexual assault — Court of Appeal holding that trial judge’s credibility assessment could be reasonably supported by the record and that he did not apply generalizations and stereotypes in rejecting accused’s evidence or shift burden of proof to accused — Conviction upheld.
Cases Cited
Referred to: R. v. W. (D.), [1991] 1 S.C.R. 742.
APPEAL from a judgment of the Alberta Court of Appeal (Berger, Wakeling and Strekaf JJ.A.), 2018 ABCA 12, 43 C.R. (7th) 359, [2018] A.J. No. 55 (QL), 2018 CarswellAlta 70 (WL Can.), affirming the conviction of the accused for sexual assault. Appeal dismissed.
Kathryn Quinlan, for the appellant.
Troy Couillard, for the respondent.
The judgment of the Court was delivered orally by
[1] Brown J. — We agree substantially with the majority at the Court of Appeal, and would dismiss the appeal. The trial judge’s analysis of the evidence reveals his path of reasoning that led to conviction, and permits effective appellate review.
[2] Moreover, the trial judge did not err in his credibility analysis. He did not shift the burden of proof or hold the appellant’s evidence to a higher standard of scrutiny than that applied to the complainant’s evidence. As the majority at the Court of Appeal observed, the trial judge instructed himself on the principles of R. v. W. (D.), [1991] 1 S.C.R. 742, and, based on internal contradictions in the appellant’s testimony and on the strength of the complainant’s testimony, he was entitled to conclude that the Crown had met its burden of proving the appellant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
[3] Nor did the trial judge err by applying generalizations and stereotypes in rejecting the appellant’s evidence. We agree with the majority at the Court of Appeal that the trial judge’s statements in this regard were directed to the appellant’s own evidence and to the believability of the appellant’s claims about how he responded to the specific circumstances of this case, and not to some stereotypical understanding of how men in those circumstances would conduct themselves.
Judgment accordingly.
Solicitors for the appellant: Dawson Duckett Garcia & Johnson, Edmonton.
Solicitor for the respondent: Alberta Department of Justice, Edmonton.