Judge calls 15-year sentence for high-ranking Winnipeg fentanyl trafficker 'fit and proper'

The 15-year sentence handed to a man for his role in a "sophisticated" interprovincial drug operation busted by Winnipeg police three years ago was "fit and proper," a judge says.

Manitoba Court of King's Bench Justice Richard Saull sentenced Curtis Ndatirwa, now 25, to 15 years in prison on Sept. 5 for his work in an interprovincial fentanyl trafficking operation. He handed down his reasons for the sentence on Sept. 25.

Ndatirwa was charged after Winnipeg police followed him in November 2021 as he drove from his south Winnipeg apartment to Deacon's Corner, where he was seen taking two bags from a B.C. truck driver, who was later found to be a mid-level drug courier, Saull's decision says.

Ndatirwa was arrested a few blocks away from his apartment as police seized two kilograms of fentanyl, 15 kilograms of meth and one kilogram of cocaine from his car, according to Saull.

He pleaded guilty to one count of possessing fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking, admitting that he was a "high-level trafficker of fentanyl" as part of an agreement with the Crown, the decision says.

The Crown had sought a 15-year sentence, arguing that Ndatirwa had a "high degree of moral culpability" and that his involvement in the drug trafficking was part of a "sophisticated venture purely for profit," Saull wrote.

The prosecutor said Ndatirwa is not an addict and came to Manitoba from another province "for the purpose of drug trafficking for this organized venture in order to pay off gambling debts."

"He was securing drugs from interprovincial couriers, packaging them and then trafficking them at a high-level from his residence. He was very much in control of this organized venture; far more involved than a courier or mid-level trafficker," the prosecutor said.

The Crown acknowledged that while a 15-year sentence was "somewhat" low, it was acceptable due to the fact that Ndatirwa is still young, had no prior criminal record, and had pleaded guilty — though he only did so after a preliminary hearing.

The prosecutor said fentanyl poses a significant danger to society, and fentanyl dealers create harm by preying on "vulnerable, addicted people," Saull's decision says.

The defence had suggested a nine-year sentence because Ndatirwa had expressed remorse, pleaded guilty, is intelligent and well educated, is a low-risk to reoffend and has huge support from his friends and family.

Eligible for life sentence 

Saull noted that Ndatirwa was eligible to receive a life sentence under Canada's Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. He said a nine-year sentence for him would be "far too low" and that 15 years is a "fit and proper sentence."

He referred to a Manitoba Court of Appeal decision in 2020 that refused to set a sentencing range for fentanyl traffickers, ruling there wasn't enough information at the time about the harms of fentanyl trafficking and no direction from the Supreme Court of Canada or other courts.

Saull also pointed to several court decisions on fentanyl trafficking in Manitoba since 2020, which sentenced mid-level fentanyl traffickers to between eight to 15 years.

One case described large-scale fentanyl trafficking as a "source of unspeakable harm" and a crime that preys "disproportionally on the misery of others — the marginalized and those whose lives are marked by hopelessness and despair."

The cases show that mid-level traffickers — who are less "morally capable than high-level traffickers" — are arguably liable to eight- to 15-year sentences in Manitoba, Saull said.

"A synthesis of the cases put before me leads me to conclude that an appropriate range of sentence for a high-level trafficker in fentanyl, in the Province of Manitoba, is or should be 15-years to life imprisonment."