Reasons for Judgment — Côté J. (Moldaver, Brown, Rowe and Martin JJ. concurring)
Côté J. — In our view, having regard to the principles set out by this Court in R. v. Villaroman, 2016 SCC 33, [2016] 1 S.C.R. 1000, at para. 55, it was not unreasonable for the trial judge to conclude that the evidence as a whole excluded all reasonable alternatives to guilt, especially given the presence of Mr. Youssef’s DNA on two different pieces of evidence, one of which was connected to the scene of the bank robbery, and the other to the getaway car. When the trial judge’s reasons are read as a whole, and in the context of the evidence and the arguments at trial, we are not persuaded that the trial judge ignored other potential explanations.
We would therefore dismiss the appeal.
Cases cited
- R. v. Villaroman 2016 SCC 33 para 55 ¶ 1