A single dose of a form of fentanyl ordered online by accused dealer Darcy Oake was enough to send his former friend and alleged victim to hospital for days, a Yellowknife court heard through testimony on Thursday.
Taking the stand at the 24-year-old man’s trial, Oake’s former friend testified she was with the accused at his father’s Borden Drive home in October 2016 when he ordered fentanyl online from China.
Oake is charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm after the woman overdosed on drugs allegedly provided to her by the Yellowknife man.
He pleaded guilty to trafficking furanylfentanyl, a less potent form of fentanyl, on Monday.
Oake pleaded not guilty to all other charges, including importing and possessing the opioid for the purpose of trafficking.
The witness, an ex-addict who said she often visited Oake to consume crushed up fentanyl pills, testified she waited excitedly for the online order to arrive — texting her then close friend several times for updates.
She said Oake, in debt, planned to sell the drug once it came to Yellowknife.
Oake ordered the form of fentanyl, along with Xanax, from the website, spending $500 to $600 in Bitcoin, the woman testified. On Nov. 23, 2016, Oake texted her to tell her the shipment had arrived, and she went to his home to get high, the woman said.
She told the court she walked into Oake’s garage, where a line of fentanyl — the length of a pinky finger — was waiting for her.
Oake, who told the woman he’d overdosed on the drug earlier that day, advised her to be “really, really careful with it,” testified the witness.
The next thing the woman remembers is waking up at her home, unable to walk, she said.
“I had to crawl to the bathroom,” she said, telling the court the back of her neck was left numb for months after the overdose.
The woman recalled being carried to a car and driven to Stanton Territorial Hospital by her roommate. When she awoke - a day and a half later - her mother was sitting by her side, the witness said as she wiped away tears.
She could see Oake, who had overdosed again, lying in a hospital bed across the hall. The two haven’t spoken since, she said.
Oake’s alleged victim said she told her mother she had more of the drug she overdosed on in her purse, and the police were called to the hospital, where the drug was found wrapped in a piece of paper.
“I was scared I was going to do more if I kept it,” she said.
An investigation into a rash of suspected fentanyl overdoses brought RCMP to Oake’s Borden Drive residence on Nov. 25, 2016. He was found unresponsive after overdosing in his bedroom that morning, the court heard earlier this week.
Police seized a bag containing a white, crystal-like substance suspected to be fentanyl in Oake’s dresser — triggering a large-scale response that saw hazmat suit-clad members of the RCMP Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement and Response (CLEAR) unit search the property.
The trial resumes today.