Crown:  C. Pirraglia, Office of the Crown Attorney, Toronto
Defence:  Craig Penney, Domestic Assault Lawyer, Toronto

¶ 1  CROWN: Thank you. Number 2 and 3 on the afternoon list, Mr. B.?

¶ 2  MR PENNEY:  Mr. B., could you come forward? The Romanian interpreter is here as well, Your Honour. My name is Penney, initial C. This is a matter, Your Honour, where a plea was entered on May the 3rd. However, I wasn't counsel at the time. Since that time, I've ordered a copy of the Information and the transcript. There is a problem with respect to the Count for which a guilty plea was entered at the time. It was out of time. I've written to Mr. Locke about it prior to today. I understand that — let me get right to the point — the Crown and I are submitting to Your Honour that Count 1 should be ...

¶ 3  THE COURT:  Can I see the Information, please?

¶ 4  MR PENNEY:  The proceedings should be marked a nullity and we're going to be scheduling a trial on Count 2.

¶ 5  THE COURT:  Counsel, have you received the transcript yet?

¶ 6  MR PENNEY:  Yes, I did.

¶ 7  THE COURT:  And I do not recall, because I did not make a note and these are generally very fast in 303 Court.

¶ 8  MR PENNEY:  Yes, I know. I understand.

¶ 9  THE COURT:  Was there a consent filed to go beyond —

¶ 10  MR PENNEY:  No, and that's why I ordered the transcript. I can provide it to Your Honour.

¶ 11  THE COURT:  No, I will trust your reading.

¶ 12  MR PENNEY:  Yes, I've reviewed it, I've provided a copy to Mr. Locke. There is no consent on the Information or in the transcript. The issue wasn't addressed.

¶ 13  THE COURT:  All right.

¶ 14  MR PENNEY:  I suspect it was simply an oversight on the day.

¶ 15  THE COURT:  Well, it is out by one day, that is the other thing too, in that Court. It is only out by one day.

¶ 16  MR PENNEY:  It's only out by one day, but ...

¶ 17  THE COURT:  That is right.

¶ 18  MR PENNEY:  It's a jurisdictional —

¶ 19  THE COURT:  All right, so —

¶ 20  MR PENNEY:  It's a statutory Court, Your Honour. So ...

¶ 21  THE COURT:  Yes, of course. So, I will strike the guilty plea. I will ask that the finding of guilt also be struck, and I am actually going to leave it to set up for trial, and counsel can deal with it on the trial date. Are you in a position now where you would like to go to the Trial Coordinator?

¶ 22  MR PENNEY:  We've already done that. I believe that my friend and I are asking ...

¶ 23  THE COURT:  All right.

¶ 24  MR PENNEY:  ... that Count one be declared a nullity. I don't know if Your Honour is prepared to do that now or ...

¶ 25  CROWN:  All I know of the matter, Your Honour, is what Mr. Locke has endorsed on the letter by my friend, which is that he agreed with his assessment of it.

¶ 26  MR PENNEY:  There's an endorsement on the bottom of the letter.

¶ 27  CROWN:  Yes. Count Number 1 is a nullity. It's okay to set a one hour trial date on Count 2.

¶ 28  THE COURT:   All right. So, I am going to actually withdraw Count 1, and I will deal with &mdash you can set the Count 2 up for trial. Madam Clerk, you can have this back.

¶ 29  MR PENNEY:  Thank you so much, Your Honour.

¶ 30  THE COURT:  You are welcome.

¶ 31  MR PENNEY:   We've — there's 1 hour available, in Scarborough, Your Honour, 10:00 a.m., 410 Court, 26th of October, for trial, please.

¶ 32  THE COURT:  Is that date agreeable to the Crown?

¶ 33  CROWN:  Yes, it is.

¶ 34  THE COURT:  All right. This matter will go over to the 26th of October, for trial, in Courtroom 410, which is in Scarborough, 1911 Eglinton Avenue East.

¶ 35  MR PENNEY:  Thank you so much, Your Honour.

¶ 36  THE COURT:  Okay, you are welcome.

Crown:   C. Boyd, Office of the Crown Attorney, Toronto
Defence:  Craig Penney, Domestic Assault Lawyer, Toronto

¶ 1   CROWN: The next matter is the Mr. B. matter.

¶ 2   MR PENNEY: Good Morning, Your Honour, Penney, initial "C." Mr. B. and the interpreter are in the body of the Court. You don't need to come forward just yet, sir.

¶ 3   THE COURT: Number 5 on the list, yes.

¶ 4   CROWN: There are no Crown witnesses here on that matter as of yet, Your Honour. I would ask the indulgence just to look into the matter very briefly, and make a decision very shortly about what to do with that charge.

¶ 5   THE COURT: Yes.

¶ 6   MR PENNEY: Okay, fair enough.

[OTHER MATTERS ARE DEALT WITH AT THIS TIME]

¶ 7   CROWN: Good Morning again, Your Honour. If we can address the Mr. B. matter, first of all.

¶ 8   MR. PENNEY: He's coming forward, Your Honour. Good morning again, Penney, initial "C.," for the record.

¶ 9   CROWN: This is the situation, Your Honour, where it seems that the complainant, and other Crown witnesses, are not here. There wouldn't be any likelihood that they will be here today. I have discussed the matter with my friend. Mr. B., since the date that he was charged, has completed both counselling on his own with respect to domestic violence, and has also conducted counselling together with the complainant, with whom he was allowed to have contact by virtue of a bail variation. And, in light of the efforts on his behalf, I'm not going to be asking for an adjournment of this matter, and I'm asking that the charge against Mr. B. be marked as withdrawn.

¶ 10   THE COURT:  It is noted withdrawn at the request of the Crown. You are free to go.

¶ 11   MR PENNEY: Thank you.