Pubdate: Thu, 02 Nov 2006
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2006 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Peter Brieger, National Post

'PRIVILEGED' SON JAILED FOR DRUG OFFENCES

Grandson of Hazelton Lanes Developer Pleads Guilty To Trafficking

A "privileged" grandson of the developer who built chic Hazelton 
Lanes dodged a stiff prison sentence yesterday for dealing cocaine 
after claiming his parent's divorce put him on the wrong path.

Adam Wookey, 22, a former student at several exclusive private 
schools, faced as many as five years in prison.

Madame Justice Denise Bellamy gave him a 22-month sentence, which 
will be served at a provincial jail instead of a harsher federal penitentiary.

The minimum sentence was one year in prison.

"I'm going to take a chance on you ... but this is your last 
opportunity," Judge Bellamy told Wookey, dressed in a blue jacket and 
jeans. "[In prison] you will meet people addicted to cocaine because 
people like you sold it to people like them."

The judge said Wookey's "supportive ... accomplished and law-abiding" 
family has been devastated by his arrest, highlighted in 20 character 
letters from friends and relatives, including uncle Simon Wookey, a 
former film producer who is running for Toronto city council, and 
Wookey's grandfather, Richard, a real estate developer who built 
Hazelton Lanes and York Square.

"I know this is not what I was meant to be," an apologetic Wookey 
said in a letter to Judge Bellamy. "I lived the majority of my youth 
living on impulse -- I made a lot of mistakes living this way."

The man added that he was "using hard drugs before others had even 
started drinking."

"I was addicted to the escape they provided," he wrote.

The then 18-year-old's grandfather warned him that he had 
"questionable friends" and was headed for trouble shortly before his 
arrest four years ago. Wookey has been free on bail since then.

"I also have seven grandchildren, all at private schools, or at 
university," Wookey's grandfather wrote in his letter to Judge 
Bellamy. "We are a close family and not one of us has had anything to 
do with the law in a negative way."

Added Wookey's uncle, Cedric Giraud: "[The family is] all joined 
together by being terrified and saddened thinking of what Adam would 
have to go through in the hardened and cruel environment of the penal system."

Wookey's arrest came days after his former roommate, Jesse Gubb, 
fired paint balls at motorists from their Queen Street East apartment 
on Halloween night four years ago.

Responding to complaints, police and Emergency Task Force personnel 
entered the vacant apartment -- the pair had already fled -- to find 
more than 100 grams of marijuana and 42 grams of cocaine, some 
contained inside a school bag from Trinity College, one of several 
exclusive schools Wookey attended.

Three guns -- including a sawed off shotgun with its serial number 
burned off -- were also found, along with scales to weigh drugs, two 
pagers, debt lists and $5,100 in cash. Some of the cocaine was stored 
in the freezer.

Wookey pleaded guilty to gun possession and drug trafficking charges, 
while Gubb was eventually released with a $200 fine for marijuana possession.

John Hinrichs, Wookey's godfather, said he regretted "not taking a 
more active role in assuring Adam's future" and told Judge Bellamy 
that he will try to get the man hired on one of his construction 
crews after his release.

"Exposure to hardworking, decent tradesmen could assist in Adam's 
recovery," Mr. Hinrichs wrote.

Describing Wookey's mother, Karen, as an "entirely fabulous parent," 
prominent defence lawyer Clayton Ruby said he and his wife, Superior 
Court judge Harriet Sachs, occasionally have dinner with Wookey and his mother.

Wookey dated the couple's daughter for four years, Mr. Ruby said, 
adding that the man's "sense of insecurity" following his parent's 
divorce "left him vulnerable."

"I am quite prepared to assist in supporting him in the community 
[once he's released]," Mr. Ruby wrote.

Mrs. Wookey, whose former husband is a businessman now living in 
Turkey, said she blamed herself for "not stepping out of denial earlier."

"I could be standing over his grave or looking into the eyes of 
another mother who lost her son because of a terrible choice my son 
made," she wrote.
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