(Ottawa) The Supreme Court orders a new trial for a Francophone from British Columbia who says he was not informed of his right to a trial in the official language of his choice.
The Supreme Court ruled five to two in a ruling released Friday.
Franck Yvan Tayo Tompouba is appealing his conviction for sexual assault, claiming his language rights were violated because he was not told his trial could be conducted in French if he so wished.
This right is guaranteed by Article 530 of the Penal Code, which provides that every accused person has the right to be tried in the official language of his choice. The judge before whom he appears for the first time is responsible for ensuring that the accused is informed of this right, who may request that his trial be conducted in English or French.
Believing that this right was not respected during his trial, the bilingual French-speaking Mr. Dayo Tombuba appealed his conviction to the British Columbia Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal recognized that the judge had erred, but dismissed the case, Mr. It ruled that the evidence did not allow it to determine whether Tayo Tombuba would have been interrogated in French if he had been informed. This right of the judge provided in Article 530.
The accused then took his case to the Supreme Court of Canada.
In his judgment, Chief Justice Richard Wagner said that the Court of Appeal had ruled that Mr. Dayo refers to the error of burden of proof on Tombuba.
Considering this, the Supreme Court Mr. Dayo overturned Tombuba’s conviction and ordered a new trial in French.
“However, the importance of linguistic rights protected by Art. 530 does not mean that a violation of a procedural or declaratory duty should automatically create a right to a new trial when that violation is first raised on appeal,” the Supreme Court asserted in Friday’s ruling.
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