Digest: R v Mohamed, 2018 SKQB 151

Reported as: 2018 SKQB 151

Docket Number: CR 6/17 JCMJ, QB17536

Court: Court of Queen's Bench

Date: 2018-05-14

Judges:

• Layh

Subjects:

• Criminal Law � Controlled Drugs and Substances Act � Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking � Cocaine
• Constitutional Law � Charter of Rights, Section 8, Section 9, Section 10(a)

Digest: The accused was charged with unlawful possession of a prohibited weapon contrary to s. 91(2) of the Criminal Code and possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking contrary to s. 5(2) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The defence brought a Charter application alleging that the police violated the accused�s ss. 8, 9 and 10(a) Charter rights and a voir dire was held. It was agreed that the evidence presented during it would be evidence for the purposes of the trial. The officers involved in the investigation testified but the accused did not. The accused alleged that his Charter rights were violated in two instances: first when police detained him on July 16, 2016; and on August 12, 2016, when they arrested and searched him and the vehicle he was driving. On July 16th, two officers were on patrol. Earlier, one of them had been told by another officer that a reliable informant said that an individual from Alberta was committing drug-related offences in Moose Jaw. The officer then contacted the informant who gave him the individual�s name, a description of the truck and its Alberta licence plate number. The individual was said to be selling cocaine. The other officer on patrol also had received the same information from a reliable informant that a black male going by the name of Mohamed was selling cocaine. During their patrol, the first officer noticed a truck matching the description given by the informant. Although the truck was not being driven in an unusual fashion, the officer testified that he justified his stop for two purposes, citing s. 209.1 of The Traffic Safety Act and to check the identity of the driver. The stop lasted five to 10 minutes. The officer asked for and obtained the accused�s driver�s licence, which bore the name of the accused. The driver was sent on his way. The officers assumed that the person who been stopped was the person described as Tommy or Mohamed by the two informants. On numerous separate occasions in the weeks following the stop, the officers were told by their informants that Tommy/Mohamed was back in Moose Jaw selling cocaine but driving a different truck and provided its licence plate number. On August 12, the second officer received an unsolicited tip from a different but trusted informant that a black male named Mohamed was selling cocaine and that the drugs were in his truck. The first officer was also told the same thing by his informant....