R. v. Suberu

R v Suberu
Supreme Court of Canada
Hearing: April 15, 2008 Judgment: July 17, 2009
Full case name	Musibau Suberu v Her Majesty The Queen
Citations	2009 SCC 33
Docket No.	31912
Prior history	Judgment for the Crown in the Court of Appeal for Ontario.
Ruling	appeal dismissed
Holding
(1) "Without delay" in s. 10(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms regarding being informed of rights to counsel after arrest or detention means "immediately", subject to officer safety and limitations prescribed by law and justified under s. 1 of the Charter. (2) Not every interaction with the police is a detention, and police are allowed to interact with members of the public without having to have specific grounds connecting the individual to the commission of a crime.
Court Membership
Reasons given
Majority	McLachlin C.J. and Charon J. (paras. 1-46), joined by LeBel, Deschamps, Abella JJ.
Dissent	Binnie J. (paras. 47-64)
Dissent	Fish J. (paras. 65-67)

(1) "Without delay" in s. 10(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms regarding being informed of rights to counsel after arrest or detention means "immediately", subject to officer safety and limitations prescribed by law and justified under s. 1 of the Charter.

R v Suberu 2009 SCC 33 is a leading decision of the Supreme Court of Canada on section 9 and section 10 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Court applied the new test for detention created in the companion case of R v Grant and ruled on the timing of when an individual is required to be informed of his or her rights to counsel after being arrested or detained.

On June 13, 2008, Musibau Suberu and a colleague made a one-day shopping trip east of Toronto to purchase merchandise, pre-paid shopping cards, and gift certificates from Wal-Mart and the LCBO using a stolen credit card. The staff of a store in Cobourg, Ontario were warned to look out for the pair, after they reportedly bought $100 gift certificates from a different store using the stolen credit card. When Suberu's associate went to buy some merchandise at the Cobourg store with a $100 gift certificate, store employees began to stall Suberu's associate.

A police constable unaware of the background was dispatched to respond to a call about a male person using a stolen credit card at the Cobourg store. An officer who arrived earlier radioed the police constable to inform him there were two male suspects. When the police constable arrived, the other officer was dealing with Suberu's associate. Suberu walked past the police constable, and said "he did this, not me, so I guess I can go." The police constable followed Suberu outside and said "Wait a minute. I need to talk to you before you go anywhere" while Suberu was getting into the driver's side of a minivan.

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