N.S. judge sentences man to 11½ years in cocaine smuggling scheme
Peter Darcy Bailey, 49, attempted to retrieve 158 kg of drugs from ship in Halifax harbour
A Nova Scotia provincial court judge has sentenced a British Columbia man to 11½ years in prison for his part in a cocaine smuggling scheme.
Peter Darcy Bailey, 49, was convicted of four charges following a trial in September. Judge Elizabeth Buckle's written sentencing decision was released this week.
In June 2018, Bailey and Matthew Ross Lambert, 36, attempted to retrieve 158 kilograms of nearly pure cocaine that was concealed in a compartment on the underside of a freighter docked in Halifax harbour. Lambert has already been sentenced to 14 years in prison for his part in the crime.
In her sentencing decision, Buckle said the drugs had a wholesale purchase price of about $1 million. She said the street value of the drugs if they'd been sold in Canada would have been between $6 million and $8 million.
At his trial, the Crown produced text messages Bailey sent to friends in which he predicted his share would be about $500,000.
Police had become suspicious of the pair when they were observed attempting to dive on the ship, the Arica, when it docked in Montreal. By the time the ship arrived in Halifax, police had it and the suspects under surveillance.
Crucial, but not a leader
The judge found that Lambert deserved a harsher sentence because he was more closely associated with the cocaine transaction. She said Bailey was probably brought into the scheme because of his diving experience. That left the judge with the job of where Bailey fell in the range of potential sentences.
"He was not at the height of the importing or trafficking hierarchy," Buckle wrote in her decision.
"He was also not simply a mule, carrying drugs over a border for a fee … He was a crucial member of that team but was not its leader."
The Crown had asked for a sentence of up to 14 years. Bailey's lawyer had suggested a prison term as low as eight years.
In addition to his time behind bars, Bailey's DNA is going into a national data bank and he faces a lifetime weapons ban.