Welcome to Cases That Should Have Gone to the Supreme Court of Canada, But Didn’t! This week, we talk about how the courts should deal with issues of “lost evidence” in criminal cases.
Acumen Law Corporation lawyer Kyla Lee gives her take on a made-in-Canada court case each week, and discusses why these cases should have been heard by Canada’s highest court: the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Lost Evidence
Anita Marianne Dunkers, Between 2007 and 2010 it was allege that Ms. Dunkers stole over $200,000 from a charity she was working at. By the time the investigation was concluded and the case had gone to court, a lot of evidence was lost. The charity was wound up, a lot of evidence had been put in storage, and some things had gone missing.
When the case came to trial, Ms. Dunkers dealt with the issue of lost evidence arguing she had submitted expense reports to the charity, and that the cheques she had issued to herself were valid cheques made in repayment to the expenses she had incurred.
Although she lost at trial, the case raises very important questions that could have been answered by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Those questions deal with who bears the onus of proving when evidence is lost? And what evidence was lost? In cases where there is lost evidence, people are entitled in certain circumstances to have charges against them dropped.
Was Ms. Dunkers entitled to have the charges dropped?
Great video!