R. v. R.B.W., 2023 NSCA 58

In a case with very difficult facts, an African Nova Scotian man was sentenced to a conditional sentence order of two years less a day for committing the offence of incest.

The Crown appealed the decision arguing that the judge was too lenient and erred in law by not emphasizing denunciation and deterrence. 

ANSJI partnered with Nova Scotia Legal Aid and argued that the sentencing judge properly applied the principles from R. v. Anderson and that the community-based sentence was appropriate.

In a 2-1 split, the Court of Appeal agreed and found that the sentencing judge had conducted the appropriate analysis and arrived at a fit and appropriate sentence.

The Crown then sought leave to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court of Canada and in doing so took the position that the principles from Anderson should be reconsidered.

The Supreme Court of Canada denied the Crown’s application.

The sentencing judge applied the guidance in Anderson. She gave careful consideration to R.B.W.’s moral culpability but did not confine her analysis of it to a singular focus on the wrongfulness of his engaging in sexual intercourse with his daughter. She situated that wrongfulness in R.B.W.’s individual circumstances, and recognized the requirement that she use the “valuable information” in the IRCA “to ensure relevant, systemic, and background factors are integrated into crafting a sentence.”

Link to Decision: R. v. R.B.W., 2023 NSCA 58