Just Over Her Head

During an altercation with his intimate partner in a bedroom at his father's residence, the Accused pointed a rifle at her. He then raised it slightly and fired a shot just over her head, leaving a hole in the wall behind her. He was charged with eleven offences; the Crown stayed four and proceeded on seven, among them both pointing a firearm and recklessly discharging a firearm arising out of the same moment. The question was whether both firearm counts could stand together. He argued that the rule against multiple convictions for the same delict barred one of them, since raising the rifle and firing it were a single continuous act against a single person. The Crown said the two sections address different harms and that the pointing offence contains an element the discharge offence does not.