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Sentencing delayed in cocaine case

Sentencing has been delayed again for two people who pleaded guilty last September to trafficking crack cocaine in Red Deer.

Sentencing has been delayed again for two people who pleaded guilty last September to trafficking crack cocaine in Red Deer.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Stephen Hillier was supposed to pass sentence on Thursday to Fawisa Hassan, 24, of Calgary, and Dursa Mourme Tofik, 29, of Brooks, on charges of possession of crack cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

The two accused, along with Mohammed Ahmen Mohamoud, 28, of Red Deer, were arrested and charged on Christmas Day 2008, following an RCMP investigation into a “dial-a-doper” operation.

Mohamoud pleaded guilty in 2009 and was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of drug trafficking, possession of the proceeds of crime and breaching conditions of a bail release.

Hassan and Tofik pleaded not guilty and were to go to trial last September. Both changed their pleas to guilty at the outset of what was to have been a four-day trial.

Sentencing was adjourned to Dec. 16 for a pre-sentence report. That hearing was adjourned to Thursday after Tofik’s lawyer sought a second report.

Thursday’s hearing could not go ahead because Hassan was tied up with a jury trial that went longer than expected, said Red Deer lawyer Dan Wilson, who appeared as agent for both defenders.

In a phone call with the judge from the Red Deer courtroom, he and Red Deer Crown prosecutor David Inglis agreed to negotiate a new hearing date, to be formalized on April. 13.