Pubdate: Thu, 31 Aug 2006
Source: Ottawa Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact:  http://www.ottawasun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/329
Author: Sean McKibbon
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

THREE PLEAD GUILTY IN DEATH OF DRUG MULE

Trio Admit Roles In Beating That Killed B.C. Man

THE MAN with half a million dollars of cocaine in a suitcase didn't 
expect to collapse and die outside the bus station.

Graeme Ferguson, 27, died July 19, 2005, of an embolism caused by the 
beating he'd taken while he was chained to a chair inside a Montreal 
warehouse four days earlier.

He'd finally convinced his captors that he'd been worried about the 
police presence outside the Voyageur bus station on Catherine St. and 
left the drugs behind. They brought him to Ottawa to retrieve his bags.

The whole plan almost went off without a hitch.

Police say there was a car accident on Catherine St. on June 24, 
2005, the day Ferguson first rolled into town. They had no inkling he 
was coming in with a massive drug shipment.

Yesterday, Kym Tessier, 20, Guy Wilson, 39, and Michael Lemarbre, 21, 
three of the men who inflicted the beating on Ferguson, pleaded 
guilty to manslaughter and conspiracy to kidnap and forcibly confine 
Ferguson and conspiracy to possess cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

Blue And Purple Bruises

Tessier and Wilson were both given nine years of jail in addition to 
the six months of pretrial custody they've already served.

Paul Layoun, 27 and Tessier's father, Robin Cote, 40, remain at large 
on Canada-wide warrants for first-degree murder.

Another man, Lafleche Boucher, stood in the prisoner's box with 
Tessier and Wilson and pleaded guilty to forcible confinement, 
extortion and robbery. Boucher was given 42 months in jail.

On Aug. 8, Carl Gagne, 23, quietly pleaded guilty to forcible 
confinement and extortion for his role in the case. He got two years 
in jail and three years probation.

Lemarbre, who co-operated with police and told them he witnessed 
Wilson shove a knife into Ferguson's mouth and threaten to cut out 
his tongue if he didn't talk, pleaded guilty two hours later in a 
separate hearing. He received five years for his role in the beating 
and as a supervisor of Ferguson's confinement.

He told police the chained man had blue and purple bruises on his 
legs as a result of being smashed with a piece of wood.

Ferguson's assailants thought he'd stolen the drugs he'd been hired 
to courier from B.C. Police estimate the retail value of the drugs 
would have been $3.5 million.

"I'm really sorry," said Lemarbre in halting English before he was 
sentenced. "It was not my plan to kill this guy. I have a sentence of 
life inside me too. I'm truly sorry."

After yesterday's hearing, Ferguson's mother Marlyn said she has no 
idea how her son came to be a drug mule. Graeme Ferguson had a 
supportive family, a job as a security guard and no criminal record.

"The hopes and dreams we had for Graeme are shattered," she told 
court in a victim impact statement. Her husband Ian has been off work 
since January on disability because of depression.

"We will miss his wonderful sense of humour," she said recalling the 
young man who relished mimicking his grandmother's Scottish accent 
and loved Austin Powers movies.

Investigators learned this wasn't Ferguson's first trip to Ottawa.

Earlier in June he had travelled by bus from Vancouver and earned 
$3,000 for that delivery. His girlfriend Emma Sharp told police she'd 
seen the cash and the drugs before he left. They also heard from 
Ferguson's friends that he'd bragged he was delivering drugs for "the mob."

Bogus Name

This latest trip was supposed to earn him $12,000.

As Ferguson lay dying, he told ambulance attendants he'd been 
assaulted earlier in the day. A coroner who examined him determined 
the wounds were inflicted about three days before and police followed 
a trail of clues starting with a scrap of paper in Ferguson's pocket 
on which a phone number was printed.

The number led to a bogus name and address, but a search warrant 
revealed the people who called the number were associates of Cote.

Hotel receipts also found on Ferguson led to security video footage.

Lemarbre was captured on a security camera using Ferguson's bank card.

On July 26, 2005, Cote, Layoun, Wilson and Boucher were arrested by 
Peel Regional Police. The men were stopped in an SUV with two loaded 
hand guns, ammo, duct tape, rope and plastic ties, according to an 
agreed statement of facts. Peel police theorized they were on their 
way to rough up a local drug dealer. Layoun and Cote were later 
released on bail in Toronto and fled.

"It has been determined that Paul Layoun and Robin Cote were doing 
this job for someone who was the actual owner of the cocaine 
shipment," Crown prosecutor Julianne Parfett told the court.

The men who pleaded guilty in the case were associates who worked for 
them "whenever necessary," she said.
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