A focus hearing for the case associated with Karry Biette was rescheduled for Aug. 8, at the May 9 regular sitting of the Estevan court.
Biette was absent from court, and represented by a lawyer who was contacted by the court by means of a telephone call. Biette’s lawyer disclosed that the focus hearing needed to be postponed from its original date of May 9, because more time was needed for the collection of reports and other material necessary for the hearing.
Biette faces charges of impaired driving causing death, impaired driving causing bodily harm, dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death, dangerous operation of a vehicle causing bodily harm and criminal negligence causing death, after an Oct. 14 accident that occurred while he was driving into Estevan.
Also, Rahim Khan was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in a federal penitentiary, based on the joint submission of the Crown and his lawyer, after pleading guilty to the charge of cocaine trafficking. Khan was also charged for possession of Canadian currency exceeding $5,000, but that charge was stayed.
Federal Crown prosecutor Eric Neufeld described the circumstances of Khan’s arrest in October 2013 to the court, adding that the arrest stemmed from a collaborative cocaine trafficking and distribution investigation by the RCMP and the Estevan Police Service (EPS). The operation police were investigating entailed the trafficking of cocaine from Vancouver, to drug users in Estevan.
The Crown said Khan was operating at the time as a seller, making arrangements with street sellers. The Crown added that Khan wasn’t in the upper echelons of the organization, earning a portion of the money made off the operation, when it was carried out in Estevan.
On the night of Nov. 7, 2013, the Crown said that police saw Khan leave the Microtel hotel, to meet up with and enter the vehicles registered under the names of two known drug users, and depart in another vehicle.
Subsequently, police executed a search warrant on the room in which Khan was staying, and found 59.1 grams of crack cocaine, $21,080 in Canadian currency, and a significant amount of American currency.
Upon his return to the room, Khan was arrested. A subsequent investigation took place, during which time Khan was released, and the money found in Khan’s room was put through a currency tracing system. Khan was subsequently arrested again, and released on strict conditions, by which he was careful to abide, the Crown noted.
Khan’s lawyer noted that Khan was a lifelong resident of B.C., and learned of an opportunity to courier drugs in Estevan, accepting what was a position at the lowest level of the criminal enterprise and taking tremendous amounts of risk for minimal reward. The lawyer noted that Khan, until travelling to Estevan, was employed in the construction industry, and referenced several letters of support, including one from his family and one from his most recent employer vouching for his character. Khan himself wrote a letter to the court in lieu of speaking on the charges, expressing his remorse for the potential for harm he ushered in, distributing cocaine in the community.
Khan’s lawyer requested that Khan be allowed to serve his sentence in a penitentiary in the Lower Mainland of B.C., so that he could stay connected to his family, girlfriend and former employer. He noted that Khan is looking to pursue a further career in construction upon his release.
Before sentencing Khan, presiding Judge Lane Wiegers stated that the offences were of great concern, and dangerous to a community. Wiegers granted that Khan had insight into the seriousness of the offences, and had good plans for after his release, adding that the punishment for such offences had to be severe, to provide a lesson.
Wiegers allowed for the provision that Khan serve his sentence in B.C., and also ordered a firearms prohibition and a $200 victim fine surcharge.
