Recently appointed Justice Minister Arif Virani has initiated a review of a possible miscarriage of justice related to a murder conviction in the case of a child’s death.
“Following an extensive review, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, David Lametti, determined that there is a reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred. Minister Virani has reviewed the file and is supportive of this decision,” the statement said, adding, “This determination is a result of the identification of new information that was not before the courts at the time of Mr. Rees’s trial or appeal.”
In 1990, Mr. Rees was convicted of second-degree murder, which came with a life sentence without the possibility of parole for 15 years. On June 16, 1994, his application to the Court of Appeal for Ontario was dismissed. The following year, Mr. Rees lodged an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, but was denied.
After serving 19 years in custody, he was granted day parole in 2009 and was subsequently given full parole. His application for a review of his criminal conviction was submitted in 2018.
“A fair justice system must also be compassionate and balance the needs of victims while guarding against potential miscarriages of justice, which is why we have a process in place to review such cases. This case is particularly tragic in that it involves the death of a child,” he said.
“However, after a review of Mr. Rees’s case, there is a reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred and that a new appeal from conviction is warranted.”
The girl’s mother found 10-year-old Darla Thurrott dead the morning after she had been strangled in bed at her Etobicoke residence, nonprofit organization Innocence Canada said in a press release.
“Tim Rees, then 25 years old, who had visited Darla’s parents the evening before and stayed overnight, was convicted of the murder,” Innocence Canada said.
In 2016, Innocence Canada took on the case of Mr. Rees and in 2018 submitted an application to then minister of justice Jody Wilson-Raybould asserting he had been unjustly convicted.
“The compelling feature of his [appeal] application was an undisclosed tape-recorded statement of the landlord who lived in the same home and slept in the room immediately across the hall from Darla,” the release said.
“The landlord, since deceased, had given a highly incriminating statement to the police hours after the murder but the defence knew nothing of it. The landlord was able to testify with impunity, and falsely, that he never had a relationship with Darla and had not been in her bedroom on the night she was murdered.”
“If the missing tape-recording had been disclosed in 1989, it is doubtful that Mr. Rees would ever have been charged, let alone convicted of Darla’s murder,” it said.
To order a new trial or appeal, the minister must be convinced there is a reasonable basis to conclude a miscarriage of justice occurred.
“A key consideration is whether the application is supported by new matters of significance, such as new information that has surfaced since the trial and appeal,” the Department of Justice said.
