R. v. O.V., 2015 BCCA 449

• Judge: MacKenzie, Willcock and Goepel, JJ.A.
• Court: Court of Appeal (British Columbia)
• Case Date: October 29, 2015
• Jurisdiction: British Columbia
• Citations: 2015 BCCA 449;(2015), 378 B.C.A.C. 250 (CA)

R. v. O.V. (2015), 378 B.C.A.C. 250 (CA);

    650 W.A.C. 250

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2015] B.C.A.C. TBEd. NO.008

Regina (respondent) v. O.V. (appellant)

(CA40939; 2015 BCCA 449)

Indexed As: R. v. O.V.

British Columbia Court of Appeal

MacKenzie, Willcock and Goepel, JJ.A.

October 29, 2015.

Summary:

The accused admittedly killed his estranged wife by stabbing her 15 times. At trial on a charge of second degree murder, the accused pleaded not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder. Alternatively, he argued that his mental disorder deprived him of the specific intent to commit murder, which should result in a conviction for manslaughter rather than murder.

The British Columbia Supreme Court, in a judgment reported [2013] B.C.T.C. Uned. 52, convicted the accused of second degree murder. Although the accused suffered from a delusional disorder when he killed his wife, there was no medical or circumstantial evidence that the accused was incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of acts or that he was incapable of knowing that his actions were wrong. The accused appealed his conviction. The accused conceded that he failed to meet the criteria for not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder (Criminal Code, s. 16(1)), but argued that the trial judge erred in finding that he possessed the specific intent for murder.

The British Columbia Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. The trial judge considered all of the evidence and drew inferences that were supported by the evidence. There was no misapprehension of the psychiatric evidence. The trial judge did not misuse evidence of post-offence conduct nor was there a reasonable apprehension of bias.

Editor's Note: Certain names in the following case have been initialized or the case otherwise edited to prevent the disclosure of identities where required by a publication ban under s. 486.5 of the Criminal Code and Maritime Law Book's editorial policy.

Courts - Topic 691

Judges - Disqualification - Bias - Reasonable apprehension of bias - See paragraphs 65 to 70.

Criminal Law - Topic 1263

Murder - General principles - Intention - See paragraphs 16 to 64.

Criminal Law - Topic 4865

Appeals - Indictable offences - Grounds of appeal - Verdict unreasonable or unsupported by evidence - See paragraphs 16 to 64.

Criminal Law - Topic 4866

Appeals - Indictable offences - Grounds of appeal - Misapprehension of evidence - See paragraphs 16 to 64.

Criminal Law - Topic 5316

Evidence and witnesses - Inferences - Of guilt - From conduct - See paragraphs 41 to 52.

Cases Noticed:

R. v. Swales (M.G.) (2014), 360 B.C.A.C. 291; 617 W.A.C. 291; 2014 BCCA 350, refd to. [para. 22].

Housen v. Nikolaisen et al. (2002), 286 N.R. 1; 219 Sask.R. 1; 272 W.A.C. 1; 2002 SCC 33, refd to. [para. 33].

R. v. White (D.R.) (2011), 412 N.R. 305; 300 B.C.A.C. 165; 509 W.A.C. 165; 2011 SCC 13, refd to. [para. 41].

R. v. Feil (J.G.) (2012), 316 B.C.A.C. 277; 537 W.A.C. 277; 2012 BCCA 110, refd to. [para. 41].

R. v. Damin (S.) (2012), 331 B.C.A.C. 101; 565 W.A.C. 101; 2012 BCCA 504, refd to. [para. 41].

R. v. Newman (M.B.) (2015), 373 B.C.A.C. 58; 641 W.A.C. 58; 2015 BCCA 237, refd to. [para. 47].

R. v. Robinson (S.A.), [2010] B.C.T.C. Uned. 368; 2010 BCSC 368, refd to. [para. 55].

R. v. Walle (A.J.) (2012), 433 N.R. 1; 533 A.R. 1; 557 W.A.C. 1; 2012 SCC 41, refd to. [para. 56].

R. v. Rodgerson (J.) (2015), 473 N.R. 1; 334 O.A.C. 1; 2015 SCC 38, refd to. [para. 59].

R. v. R.D.S., [1997] 3 S.C.R. 484; 218 N.R. 1; 161 N.S.R.(2d) 241; 477 A.P.R. 241, refd to. [para. 70].

Commission scolaire francophone du Yukon No. 23 v. Yukon (Procureure générale) (2015), 471 N.R. 206; 2015 SCC 25, refd to. [para. 70].

Authors and Works Noticed:

Watt's Manual of Criminal Evidence (2015), § 12.02 [para. 46].

Counsel:

S. Vyas, for the appellant;

F.G. Tischler, for the Crown, respondent.

This appeal was heard on October 15, 2015, at Vancouver, B.C., before MacKenzie, Willcock and Goepel, JJ.A., of the British Columbia Court of Appeal.

On October 29, 2015, MacKenzie, J.A., delivered the following judgment for the Court of Appeal.