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Criminal - Human Trafficking. R. v. Wilson
In R. v. Wilson (Ont CA, 2022) the Court of Appeal considered the elements of the crime of human trafficking:(i) Elements of the trafficking offence
[20] The relevant provisions of the human trafficking offence under s. 279.011(1) for the purposes of this appeal are as follows:s. 279.011 (1) Every person who recruits, transports, transfers, receives, holds, conceals or harbours a person under the age of eighteen years, or exercises control, direction or influence over the movements of a person under the age of eighteen years, for the purpose of exploiting them or facilitating their exploitation is guilty of an indictable offence [.] [21] The Crown must prove the following elements beyond a reasonable doubt: (1) the conduct (“recruits… exercises control, direction or influence”); (2) the prohibited group (a person under the age of 18); and (3) the purpose (exploiting or facilitating the exploitation of the prohibited group): R. v. A.A., 2015 ONCA 558, 327 C.C.C. (3d) 377, at paras. 79-82; R. v. Gallone, 2019 ONCA 663, 147 O.R. (3d) 225, at paras. 17, 33.
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[29] Here, the evidence supports both the kind of physical and psychological control that satisfies the “control” mode of conduct under s. 279.011(1), as it did, for example, in R. v. Mascoe, 2020 ONCA 706, at para. 7. The appellant controlled the complainant’s movements including by manhandling her, giving her drugs to keep her “high”, retaining her money, pressuring her to work, becoming angry with her if she wanted money or refused to work, arranging her clients and locations, preventing her from leaving the motel and hotel rooms to which he drove her, and emotionally manipulating the complainant through their romantic relationship to keep her with him and have her return to him, notwithstanding that she did return to her parents on occasion.
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