Public mischief can mainly be defined as reporting someone to the police accusing them falsely of having committed a criminal offence or claiming a criminal act has been committed while knowing it is not true (Section 140 Criminal Code). These actions are done with the knowledge that a police officer will launch an investigation on the basis of this false information.
Public mischief charges are generally laid in cases of insurance fraud, when an individual falsely claims being robbed or destroys property in order to collect the benefits. It also happens that persons having made false accusations in order to bother someone can be charged, but this type of mischief is generally more difficult to prove.
Sentences provided for public mischief are a maximum of 5 years in prison. A discharge is possible in case of a guilty verdict.
A criminal lawyer defending clients charged with public mischief has to analyse several means of defence: did the clients know they were misleading the police? Did they intend to lead the police officers to launch an investigation? What evidence is there of the defendant’s intentions? If they admitted committing the mischief, are their admissions receivable as evidence under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms? And there are other questions to ask.
Here are examples of public mischief cases defended by our law firm.
Do not hesitate to contact a lawyer if you are charged with public mischief.
