Criminal Harassment Charges - Criminal Lawyers

Our Brampton Criminal Lawyers defend Criminal Harassment charges.  

In Canada, you can be charged with a criminal harassment offence if you are found engaging in prohibited conduct knowingly that results in another person’s fear for the safety of their own or someone close to them. Usually referred to as 'stalking', criminal harassment charges include repeated but undesired attempts to communicate with a complainant.

Criminal harassment is an offence in Canada which carries a maximum penalty of up to 10 years in prison. It refers to behaviour that most people would describe as stalking. The actions of the accused must be repeated and unwanted and often include things like:

1. Attending a residence, parking lot, or street of the complainant,
2. Parking or loitering near their home, place of work, or school, etc.,
3. Repeated phone calls or text messages (via SMS or social media),
4. Following the complainant around,
5. And generally, any form of contact that causes someone else to reasonably fear for their safety.

Our experienced team of Criminal defence Lawyers represent clients charged in Mississauga, Brampton, Milton, Newmarket, Toronto, Oshawa, Orangeville, Hamilton, Barrie, Oakville, Burlington, Guelph, Kitchener, North York, and across Southwestern Ontario.  If you have been charged with a criminal charge, contact our Criminal Lawyers for a free telephone case evaluation today.  We will fight to defend your charges and get you the results you deserve.

Criminal harassment
Under section 264 (1) of the Criminal Code of Canada, it states that "No person shall, without lawful authority and knowing that another person is harassed or recklessly as to whether the other person is harassed, engage in conduct referred to in subsection (2) that causes that other person reasonably, in all the circumstances, to fear for their safety or the safety of anyone known to them."

Prohibited conduct

(2) The conduct mentioned in subsection (1) consists of

• (a) repeatedly following from place to place the other person or anyone known to them;
• (b) repeatedly communicating with, either directly or indirectly, the other person or anyone known to them;
• (c) besetting or watching the dwelling-house, or place where the other person, or anyone known to them, resides, works, carries on business or happens to be; or
• (d) engaging in threatening conduct directed at the other person or any member of their family.

The standard of proof in a criminal harassment case goes beyond intent meaning that if a person is reckless as to the result of their behaviour they can still be convicted. Simply acting in a way that causes a person to fear for their safety can lead to charges and a finding of guilt/conviction.