Police seizure of sex assault suspect’s coffee cup justified: Appeal Court
MONTREAL — Quebec’s highest court has ruled that tricking a sexual assault suspect into providing his DNA does not constitute a privacy violation.
Giovanni D’Amico had appealed his 2014 conviction for the brutal sexual assaults of four Montreal sex workers. Among his arguments was the claim that police had no right to collect his coffee cup during an undercover operation.
D’Amico, whom police had identified as a suspect in a string of assaults dating back to 2002, was invited to what he thought was a business meeting in April 2008. He was in fact meeting an undercover Montreal police officer, who cleared their cups from the table when the coffee was done. D’Amico’s was then collected by another undercover officer.
A DNA analysis revealed a possible match with genetic material found on two victims of unsolved sexual assaults. That allowed police to obtain a court order to take a formal DNA sample, which contributed to his conviction. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison on three counts of sexual assault, one of sexual assault causing bodily harm and one of assault.