Before Hassen Abdul Kerim Mohamed was convicted in September of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, his lawyer and prosecutors squabbled over just how involved the B.C. man was in a "sophisticated" drug operation that led to his arrest.
Counsel remained at odds during a sentencing hearing for Mohamed on Wednesday in NWT Supreme Court, with defence and the Crown recommending vastly differently sentences - while continuing to paint two starkly different portraits of how - and why - Mohamed was involved in the drug network.
In April 2015, members of Yellowknife RCMP’s emergency response team raided a Finlayson Drive townhouse using a battering ram and a grenade-like diversion device. Inside, they found Mohamed – and heaps of fentanyl, cocaine and marijuana.
Mounties arrested Mohamed as he exited the residence’s second-floor bathroom. A cocaine-filled baggie was found between the accused’s legs as he lay handcuffed on the floor.
The homeowner and primary target of the drug raid, William Castro, leaped through a second-floor window during the raid. Casto is currently serving a six-year prison sentence for selling cocaine, fentanyl and marijuana.
During a trial in August, Mohamed’s lawyer, Jennifer Cunningham, characterized her client as a “found in,” an unwitting houseguest at Castro’s residence who had little to no knowledge of his roommate’s expansive drug enterprise.
Prosecutor Duane Praught, on the other hand, said Mohamed was much more involved in Castro’s operation, and that he ran drugs to and from the Finlayson Dr. townhouse. In September, Justice Shannon Smallwood rejected Cunningham’s version of events, convicting Mohamed of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. But Smallwood wasn’t satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Mohamed possessed the fentanyl found in the house for the purpose of trafficking.
Praught is calling for a three-year sentence. Despite submissions from defence, he said Mohamed was involved in the trafficking of cocaine to make money.
“Mr. Mohamed came to the North to sell drugs,” he said in Supreme Court on Wednesday, noting the prevalence of out-of-town dealers setting up shop in the North's profitable market.
Cunningham, on the other hand, said Mohamed was in “the throws of addiction” at the time of his arrest, and that he was seriously addicted to opiates and other drugs, leaving him homeless at times.
Mohamed completed a 21-month residential treatment program following his arrest.
Calling for a nine-month sentence followed by probation, Cunningham asked Smallwood to consider the “exceptional” nature of the case, and cited recent NWT cases where addiction-addled traffickers were handed sentences in the range of six to 10 months.
Praught said there was no evidence in the home to suggest Mohamed was using the drugs he was found with.
Cunningham said the Crown was “stretching the role,” of her client within Castro’s network, and urged the court to consider the context of Mohamed’s arrest. She added her client suffers from anxiety after experiencing trauma in his war-torn homeland as a child.
Mohamed broke down as Cunningham outlined his addiction and anxiety issues.
Mohamed was facing drug charges in B.C. at the time of the Yellowknife raid in 2015. Last year, he received a six-month sentence after being convicted of possessing cocaine and heroin for the purpose of trafficking.
Smallwood is expected to give a decision Thursday afternoon.