A speeding incident turned into a lengthy jail term for a man who was sentenced to three years in jail Wednesday for trafficking in crack cocaine.
Zakaria Wani, 21, of Edmonton was sentenced to his second drug trafficking sentence when he appeared in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench.
He was convicted earlier this fall following a trial. Sentencing was adjourned to allow for a pre-sentence report.
Wani, who was arrested and charged on May 26, had stopped in Red Deer on his way back from Brooks.
RCMP stopped him for speeding but when he gave them false identification he was arrested and his vehicle ordered impounded.
When the vehicle was about to be towed, police noticed a bag near the driver’s seat containing 30 individually wrapped packages of crack cocaine with a total weight of 11.5 grams.
Wani was also found guilty of obstructing a police officer and two counts of breaching conditions of court orders.
Wani had been sentenced a month before his arrest to 22 months in jail on April 23 in Edmonton for selling cocaine to an undercover officer in May 2009. That time was satisfied by the 11 previous months he had served in remand.
Wani will serve another 21 months in jail on the Red Deer convictions after receiving credit for almost eight months in remand on a two-for-one basis. Wani qualified for the double credit because his remand started just prior to the law changing to only a one for one basis credit for remand time.
Federal Crown prosecutor Dave Inglis argued for a 3 1/2-year term while defence lawyer Lorne Goddard argued for a lighter term based on Wani’s troubled upbringing and his earning a high school diploma in just three years after coming from the Sudan seven years ago with no formal education.
Goddard said Wani saw relatives and friends murdered in front of his eyes during the recent brutal civil war in that country.
“He has smelled death, seen death and knows its terrors,” Goddard said in asking Justice Kirk Sisson to take that into account during sentencing
Goddard said Wani has turned his life around and deserved a break.
jwilson@www.reddeeradvocate.com