Supreme Court: No warrant to swab your genitals? No Problem!

• Date: 01 September 2016
• Author: Izadi, Melody

In a logically confusing and weakly justified ruling rendered on June 23, 2016, the majority of the justices of the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Saeed decided that upon arrest, without warrant or consent, when Mr. Saeed was commanded to drop his trousers and a cotton-tipped swab was wiped along the length of his penis and around the head of his penis, somehow, his rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms were not infringed.

Mr. Saeed was charged and convicted of sexual assault causing bodily harm and unlawful touching for a sexual purpose. One of the key pieces of evidence relied upon by the Crown to secure a conviction was the DNA of the complainant found on Mr. Saeed's penis several hours after the assault. The DNA was found after a warrantless penile swab was conducted at the police detachment after Mr. Saeed's arrest. The defence sought to exclude the results of the penile swab on the basis that it contravened Mr. Saeed's section 8 rights under the Charter...