A B.C. Supreme Court judge has dismissed an appeal of the acquittal of a Vancouver man charged with not shovelling his sidewalk.
Harold Gutovich was charged under a city bylaw for not removing snow and ice from his sidewalk before 10 a.m. Jan. 9, 2022.
When the case was heard in Vancouver Provincial Court, a contracted City of Vancouver building site inspector testified a tip came in on the city 311 tip line that snow had not been removed at an address on the 1100-block of W. 16th Avenue.
The inspector attended and took photos.
However, the judicial justice who heard the case said there had been snow removal. She noted that the sidewalk was just not completely clear and acquitted Gutovich.
“She concluded that the photographs presented ‘very clearly show me the snow has been removed,’ and that no photographs, nor evidence, had been tendered to show the sidewalk was not safe," B.C. Supreme Court Justice Lauren Blake said in her Oct. 31 decision.
Blake said the city uses the word ‘clear’ on its website rather than ‘remove.’
“In this case, somebody has removed snow, and I have no problem finding beyond a reasonable doubt the photos provided by Crown show that there is snow removal,” Blake said.
The Crown argued that the judicial justice incorrectly interpreted the bylaw by finding that it did not require all snow and ice to be removed from a sidewalk.
“As the photographs provided evidence to support those findings and her reasonable inferences arising from those findings, I do not find she made a palpable and overriding error,” Blake said.
She said the Crown had failed to show that the sidewalk was not safe.
As such, she dismissed the Crown appeal of the acquittal.
