REGINA – A former corrections guard appeared in Regina King’s Bench Court this morning to discover how much time he will spend in the type of place he used to work.
Ayad Badi, 33, was found guilty back in April of trafficking cocaine three years prior. In a joint submission, the Crown and defence agreed on proposing a three-year jail sentence for Badi.
“He was stopped on his way to work by police and was found to be in possession of 264.96 grams of cocaine, which had an approximate street value of $21,000 at the time of his arrest,” explained Crown prosecutor Kennya Bhimji in a statement of facts. He also had around $15,000 cash in the vehicle at the time.
“There’s also evidence before that court that Mr. Badi was supplying other traffickers and that he was involved with a known drug trafficker in the city limits,” Bhimji said. “This bodes to the sophistication and significant involvement of Mr. Badi within the trafficking scheme.”
Back in July of 2020, police executed a search warrant on a home on the 4600 block of East Primrose Drive, two vehicles, and a farm northeast of Regina.
“Seized in the searches were quantities of substances believed to be cocaine, fentanyl, liquid codeine, and another unidentified powder substance, as well as a loaded firearm, drug paraphernalia, and over $50,000 in currency,” said RPS in a media release.
While Badi picked up the possession for purpose of trafficking cocaine charge, a co-accused from Brandt County, Ont. - Stephan Carlisle Raheem-Cummings - wound up with a slew of drug and firearm charges including possession for the purpose of trafficking in cocaine and fentanyl resulting from the investigation.
Continuing her submission, Bhimji noted how Badi was required by his job to uphold the law, not break it.
“He created a double standard and abused the power he was granted in being a correctional worker,” she said. “The awareness of the significant implications of trafficking can be reasonably inferred to be known by Mr. Badi when he was in close proximity with society’s most vulnerable community. Mr. Badi showed no respect for the law and was specifically supposed to maintain a just, peaceful, and safe society and failed to do so.”
While Badi had a clean criminal record, a stable job and a family, Bhimji pointed to the financial motivation of trafficking as the clear cause for Badi’s actions.
Defence lawyer Sean Fagan noted that Badi - a married father of three - had not breached his bail conditions over the past three years, which included a curfew and limitations on electronic communication.
“He’s been working hard over the last three years since his arrest on these allegations,’ Fagan told the Court. “He started a company transporting meat from his family farm, he’s been working hard seven days a week.”
Fagan further noted his client was remorseful and embarrassed for his actions.
One request Fagan put before Justice Janet McMurtry was that Badi serve his sentence in a medium-security institution outside of Saskatchewan, for obvious reasons of possible implications from his previous employment.
Before handing down the sentence, Justice McMurtry asked Badi if he had any comments.
“I’d just like to say I'm sorry for everything, and that's pretty much it, that's everything,” he said.
Justice McMurtry noted that while it is unfortunate that Badi had lost so much, most people who generally appear before the Court with similar charges “have little to start with.”
“You would be aware that few people that you have dealt with in the correctional centre have as much to lose as you did by getting involved in criminal activity,” she said. “You were involved in activity that you had to know brought harm to people. You had to see in your role as a correctional service officer the damage done to people because of their addictions.”
While sentencing regarding trafficking ranges between 18 months and four years of incarceration, Justice McMurtry agreed with the joint submission of three years; adding that it recognizes the seriousness in this case. She also agreed with making a recommendation that Badi serve his sentence outside Saskatchewan, stressing that such an ask is ultimately not binding.
Before adjourning Court, Justice McMurtry issued Badi a task.
“I hope that you are able, once you are released, to do something to repay the community for what you have done,” she said.
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