Judge to rule on search warrants
SYDNEY — It will be a pivotal ruling in the defence of a Cape Breton mother and her daughters charged in connection with a $3.6 million tax fraud.
Supreme Court Justice Robin Gogan is to deliver a decision on whether the search warrants granted to investigators from Canada Revenue Agency were executed properly.
The accused all contend they were subject to unreasonable search and seizure.
If the judge rules in favour of the accused that the warrants were not properly executed, then any evidence seized as part of the searches could be deemed inadmissible at the trial.
The accused have testified that CRA investigators failed to show copies of the search warrants along with failing to explain what documents were being sought. They also contend investigators failed to properly identify themselves in executing warrants at three locations on Nov. 22, 2017: Kentville, North Sydney and Leitches Creek.
Charged are Lydia Saker, 76, of Sydney Mines and her daughters, Georgette Young, 49, of North Sydney; Angela MacDonald, 47, of Kentville and Nadia Saker, 45, of Leitches Creek. All of the accused are representing themselves.
The four individuals plus 10 companies they operated face a combined total of 60 offences: 40 counts of fraud (Criminal Code offences) and 20 counts of filing false and deceptive statements (Excise Tax Act offences).
The offences are alleged to have occurred between January 2011 and July 2015.
It is alleged that the accused issued bogus invoices to Revenue Canada in order to receive tax rebates.
The accused also allege investigators improperly seized computer equipment from their homes and that their bodily integrity was breached.
Prosecutors Mark Donohue and Constantin Draghici-Vasilescu argued it would have been a rather large
conspiracy among CRA investigators for three separate search teams to each fail to show copies of the warrants, fail to explain the contents and what was being sought and to assault individuals in their homes.
“It is not credible given the evidence of the officers that all three teams made the same errors,” said Donohue.
Accused Angela MacDonald testified she was terrified in her home when investigators came knocking. She said she was pushed and accosted while going up the stairs of her home and thought someone had put a gun to her back.
A Kentville police constable previously testified he had accompanied investigators to the home and at no point did he draw his weapon.
Georgette Young has testified that investigators pushed her door in so hard that it cracked her on the head causing her to fall backward onto the floor and to pee her pants.
Young said she felt threatened
in her own home in that investigators told her the next time they return, they would be bringing the media.
Young said investigators failed to properly identify themselves and showed no badges.
She also questioned why investigators searched the rooms of her children and through things like a sugar bowl and flour bag.
A warrant issued for a home gives investigators the right to search every room in the home. While investigators denied searching sugar and flour, there would be nothing to stop them from completing such a search provided the warrant was correct.
Donohue noted that while Young makes an issue over searching the rooms of her children, her sister (MacDonald) told investigators the documents they were seeking were in the closet in her daughter's bedroom.
“The evidence points to a reasonable search completed in an appropriate manner,” said Donohue, adding that data storage items like a
thumb drive could easily be hidden away in a sugar bowl.
As for allegations of assault, Donohue said none of the accused raised the issue at the time of the search and told investigators everything was fine.
CRA investigators testified to showing their badges along with explaining the contents of the warrant. They also testified to taking the accused on a walk-through of their home after the search to ensure everything was in order.
Gogan's ruling on the issue could come as early as today.