(CBC News) – A B.C. Supreme Court Justice has thrown out key evidence in the prosecution of a North Vancouver man, saying his rights were grossly violated by the RCMP officers who investigated him.
Kenneth Lucas Gaba faced charges of possessing an unlicenced handgun and possessing cocaine for the purposes of trafficking, but Justice Catherine Bruce ruled that the officers who arrested him in July 2007 bungled the investigation.
Neither the drugs nor the weapon police seized during the arrest would be allowed as evidence, Bruce decided.
Bruce wrote that RCMP Const. Julie Ash was “reckless” in her pursuit of a search warrant, relying on “misleading, inaccurate information” provided by Gaba’s former girlfriend and on which the warrant was based.
The woman accused Gaba of harassment and said he was a drug dealer who kept a gun in his apartment.
Const. Ash, the judge wrote, had a “distorted, one-sided view of the evidence.”
Charter violation
Police went to Gaba’s residence, threatening to “kick his door in,” and telling him, “we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Bruce wrote.
It was an abuse of power, used to elicit incriminating statements while not informing Gaba of his rights, including the right to counsel, the judge wrote.
Bruce decided that evidence concerning the gun and the one ounce of cocaine officers did find, along with his statements made during and after his arrest, would not be allowed in his prosecution.
“The way they executed [the search warrant] and took statements from him breached his Charter rights,” said Gaba’s lawyer, Brian Coleman.
The judge described the breach as “egregious,” and enough to ensure Gaba’s rights outweigh the public interest in trying him.
The Crown has not commented on the decision, which appears to nullify its case against the accused.
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