The Crown announced Friday its intention to seek the intervention of the highest court in the country in the case of Sivaloganathan Thanabalasingham, the man who evaded charges in his wife’s murder due to the Jordan ruling.
He is accused in the slaying of his 21-year-old wife, Anuja Baskaran after a history of domestic violence. The young woman was found dead in the couple's home with knife wounds to her neck in 2012.
Thanabalasingham was released last April, shortly before the trial date, because a Superior Court judge ordered a stay of the criminal proceedings against him due to the lengthy delays between his arrest in 2012 and his the expected date of his trial in 2017.
The Crown wanted the Court of Appeal to reverse the judgment and order a new trial. If granted, the Supreme Court could overturn the judgment in a stay of proceedings and order the man to stand trial.
Instead it decided in mid-February to reject the appeal on the grounds that it had become moot and theoretical, because Thanabalasingham - who was not a Canadian citizen – had been sent back to his home country of Sri Lanka in July.
There is no extradition treaty between Canada and Sri Lanka. In short, even if a trial was ordered, it would have been difficult to bring him back to the country to face justice.
Chief Justice Nicole Duval Hesler dissented, however, and said the lower court judge should not have stayed proceedings, citing a matter of principle that "commands that the right of women to be free from the domestic violence."
Crown spokesman Jean Pascal Boucher says in an email Friday that prosecutors will use Hesler's dissent to mount their case for appeal.
- With files from CTV Montreal
