Digest: R v Burke, 2018 SKPC 43

• Date: July 18, 2019

Reported as: 2018 SKPC 43

Docket Number: PC17139 , 24507583

Court: Provincial Court

Date: 2019-07-18

Judges:

• Rybchuk

Subjects:

• Criminal Law � Controlled Drugs and Substances Act � Possession for the Purposes of Trafficking � Cocaine � Sentencing
• Criminal Law � Sentencing � Aboriginal Offender

Digest: The accused was found guilty after trial of trafficking cocaine, contrary to s. 5(1) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, and possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, contrary to s. 5(2) of the Act. The accused was staying with family in Yorkton when his cousin, whom he knew to be a drug dealer, asked him to drive him to his home in Regina. The police had had his cousin�s house under surveillance and watched the cousin carry a bag from the vehicle to the house. A search warrant was issued for the house and the police found 181 grams of cocaine and 16 grams of marijuana. After arrest, the accused spent eight days in jail and was released on strict conditions, including that he spend the first six and one half months on electronic monitoring. He had complied successfully for two years with all his conditions. At trial, the accused was found to have had actual knowledge of, or to have been willfully blind to, the fact that his cousin had travelled to Regina to pick up drugs, although he was unaware of the kind or quantity and was not involved in commercial trafficking. The Crown submitted that the accused should receive a 20-month sentence as the range for Schedule I drugs is between 18 months and four years� imprisonment. The defence argued that the sentencing principles could be met by a suspended sentence and probation. The accused spent his childhood on his mother�s reserve of the Keeseekoose First Nation after she left her abusive spouse when the accused was five. Her parents and siblings helped to raise the accused. Both his grandparents and mother had attended residential schools but the family was strong and supportive. Another branch of the family, such as the cousin who was a drug dealer, lived close by and were involved in crime. The accused�s father had kidnapped him and his brother when he was six and kept him for 12 months in Toronto. Eventually he was returned to his mother�s care. His mother died in 2013 and he became very close to his aunt with whom he was staying at the time of his arrest. The accused, 34, completed high school and one year at the University of Saskatchewan. He...