Whose Backpack

Police stopped the Accused while he was driving a rental car; his passenger had an outstanding warrant. A search produced a handgun in a backpack, a toy or imitation gun, ammunition, drugs and a false driver's licence. At the police station he admitted the handgun was his. At trial he told a different story: the gun belonged to his girlfriend, and he did not know it was in the car at the moment he was stopped. He also testified that he carried a gun on him at all times because he feared for his safety. The trial judge accepted that he had not known the firearm was in the vehicle at the moment the stop occurred. The question that decided the case was whether the Crown could rely on his admitted earlier knowledge of the gun, or whether it had to prove knowledge and control at that precise moment.