Nightclub assault charge against one of accused thrown out due to delay

A man who was accused in the assault of another man at a downtown Vancouver nightclub has had his case thrown out due to unreasonable delay.

In June 2016, Christopher Irwin was one of five men charged with assaulting Huanghe Guo at the Playhouse Nightclub on New Year’s Eve in December 2015.

The Crown alleges that Guo had just arrived at the club on Thurlow Street with his girlfriend when he was confronted by the accused and violently attacked.

Irwin argued that the time between the charges being laid and the anticipated completion of trial in November — more than 28 months — was well beyond the limit of 18 months set for such a trial following a 2016 ruling of the Supreme Court of Canada.

His lawyer said that the primary cause of the delay related to the late disclosure of evidence from two police officers who had prior dealings with Irwin, an alleged gang associate, and could identity him.

Since the complainant was unable to identify any of the accused, the case for the Crown is dependent on so-called recognition evidence, including closed caption television from the club and the evidence of the officers.

The Crown admitted that the vast majority of the delay was the fault of the prosecution but argued that the delay between the first scheduled trial date and the currently scheduled trial date was triggered by untimely disclosure requests and Charter applications and the difficulties of coordinating the busy schedules of the lawyers.

In his ruling on the case, Provincial Court Judge Gregory Rideout found that the accused was not responsible for any of the delay.

“I do not find that Irwin’s request for disclosure on the eve of this trial amounts to disclosure so late that it should weigh against Irwin,” said the judge.

The Crown argued that delays caused by the schedules of counsel were an exceptional circumstance that justified the delay above the 18-month ceiling set by Canada’s highest court, but that argument was rejected by the judge.

“I do not find that the Crown has proven that there are any extraordinary events that justify the delays in this case.”

The judge ordered that the charges against Irwin be stayed.

Charged along with Irwin were Kennie Jiang, Rohan Johnson, Aman Manj and Quy Nguyen.

The Crown earlier directed a stay of proceedings against Nguyen, whose lawyer had sought to exclude evidence against him on the grounds that the evidence had been obtained in a manner that infringed or denied his rights.

The trial of the remaining accused is expected to resume in May.

I do not find that the Crown has proven that there are any extraordinary events that justify the delays in this case.