Light time for cocaine trafficking

A 21-year-old Yorkton woman will serve a nine-month custodial sentence for cocaine trafficking followed by 12 months probation.

Tynneal Melnechenko pleaded guilty October 3 to one count of possession of a narcotic for the purposes of trafficking.

In a joint submission from the Crown and defence in Yorkton court Monday, prosecutor Shane Wagner told the Court that consequent to a vehicle stop by police, Melnechenko and a co-accused, Amina Koshin, had been found in possession of cocaine, trafficking paraphernalia and a cell phone that was receiving texts to arrange cocaine purchases.

Wagner explained the recommended sentence was significantly lower than Court of Appeals guidelines because the Crown believed the young woman, who had no criminal record was more of a minor accessory in the enterprise.

Wagner defended the joint submission saying although the Court of Appeals has set guidelines, each case must be argued on its own merit and lesser sentences are not unprecedented.

Defence attorney Thomas Campbell described his client as naïve, quiet and introverted, “a babe-in-the-woods,” he suggested, who was taken advantage of.

In addition to his client’s lack of record, Campbell cited mitigating circumstances including her youth, a supportive family, her plans to go back to school and her early guilty plea as justification for the joint submission.

Campbell lamented that a lot of young people simply do not understand how seriously Parliament and the Courts view any involvement whatsoever in trafficking hard drugs.

Judge Patrick Reis agreed it was indeed unfortunate and accepted the joint submission without reservation.

Melnechenko herself addressed the Court apologizing for her actions and saying she intended to make better choices when she was released from prison.

In addition to the prison sentence and probation, Reis imposed a 10-year firearms ban and DNA order.

Koshin was also on the docket Monday morning, but was unable to appear because, the Court was told, she was in custody in Regina on new similar charges in that city.

None of the charges against Koshin have been proven in a court of law.