Criminal Harassment – Section 264 of the Criminal Code
The law against criminal harassment is contained in s. 264 of the Criminal Code. The law provides 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 that causes that other person reasonably, in all the circumstances, to fear for their safety or the safety of anyone known to them.
To be considered criminal harassment, the accused person must have engaged in prohibited conduct, such as repeated communication, following, watching/besetting, and threatening conduct. Also, the complainant must have been harassed and the accused person knew, was reckless, or willfully blind to the harassment. The last part of the test is that the complainant reasonably feared for their safety or the safety of someone known to them.
The courts have recognized that fear does not require explicit threats, as things such as persistent unwanted communication from a person, monitoring, intimidation, obsessive conduct, and coercive patterns may create reasonable fear in the complainant without direct threats of violence.
Also, the courts look at the entire facts of each case rather than the isolated events to determine if there has been criminal harassment. The context is important to the courts. In such cases, the courts will look at the history between parties, the imbalance of power, prior violence, frequency of communication from the accused person, escalation patterns, and the impact on the complainant.
Furthermore, the courts have recognised electronic harassment through repeated texts, emails, WhatsApp messages, fake accounts, location tracking, and social media monitoring.
Any person who criminally harasses another person is guilty of:
(a) an indictable offence and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years; or
(b) an offence punishable on summary conviction, which is a fine of not more than $5,000 or to a term of imprisonment of not more than two years less a day, or to both.
It is sacrosanct to understand and recognize what conducts are considered criminal harassment and what are not, especially concerning or between persons physically and electronically.
At Morcross & Olive Law Professional Corporation, we provide practical advice to our clients on conducts that the courts will consider as criminal harassment, how to prove criminal harassment, and actions that our clients can take in cases where criminal harassment is suspected. Also, we advise our clients who have been suspected or charged with criminal harassment of the defences that may be available to them under the law. This ensures our clients remain aware of their rights, responsibilities and defences under the law with respect to criminal harassment.