For the Lounge

A wiretap investigation targeted a group trafficking firearms. The Accused admitted on the stand that the organization trafficked guns and that he had wanted in. He admitted receiving two shipments through a courier - one poor-quality firearm in April 2018, which he had a 'mechanic' repair, and later two more. His defence was that a United States-based trafficker had strung him along, and that every gun he actually received was for his own protection at the lounge he operated, not for resale. The Crown relied on the intercepted communications, expert evidence about the firearms trade, and the Accused's own testimony. Individual intercepts were genuinely ambiguous, and the Accused pointed to that ambiguity as reasonable doubt. The question was whether a man who admits wanting into a gun-trafficking operation, and who takes delivery of firearms and has one repaired, can be believed when he says the guns were only ever for himself.