CLARENVILLE, N.L.— Anthony Soper, 27, has been sentenced to four months in jail for possession of cocaine while in police custody at Clarenville provincial courthouse.
The sentence was handed down Wednesday, July 4.
The incident occurred on Oct. 16 while Soper was at the courthouse for sentencing for the knifepoint robbery of a Clarenville taxi driver in August of 2017 — for which Soper was sentenced to four years, seven months.
Accorded to the statement of facts, Soper was transported to the courthouse at 1:20 p.m.
At 1:40 p.m., he was placed in the holding room.
At 1:45, an RCMP officer noticed Soper at the window of the holding room; he appeared to be speaking with someone through the open window.
When the officer entered the holding room, there was “some quick hand movement near the window.”
In Soper’s hand was found half of a scratch ticket folded around a small quantity of substance, which was later determined to be cocaine.
Soper received a month’s jail time for the possession charge, and three months jail time for breaking a condition of his recognizance — to keep the peace and be of good behavior — in connection with the possession of the drug.
The sentence was a joint submission between the Crown and defense.
Trafficking charge
A woman, who was also present at the July 4 sentencing, had initially been charged with trafficking the cocaine to Soper.
Her charge, which had been set to go to trial May 14, was stayed by the federal Crown.
Judge speaks to prison drug trade
Judge Paul Noble noted that, based on the small quantity of cocaine discovered on Soper — the exact amount was not identified in the statement of facts — the inference was that the drug was to be ingested on the spot.
“It wasn’t going to get inside a facility, it was going to be ingested. I think we can all infer that from the small amount (of cocaine found on Soper),” he told the court.
“Initially I thought that perhaps it was a situation where drugs were perhaps being hidden on your person and going to be introduced to the prison where you were destined to serve your sentence,” explained Noble, who took a moment to address the issues of the drug trade within the prison system.
“Our correctional facilities are challenging places for inmates and staff. Introducing drugs into that environment makes it even more challenging,” Noble continued. “As you know, there are a lot of people in these facilities who are trying to stay off drugs, who are trying to turn their lives around while they’re in prison.
“And they are other inmates, as you know, who are doing whatever they can to get a fix… you have people who are under the influence of these drugs, whose behavior can be unpredictable and aggressive. And then you have an illicit drug trade going.”
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