Amanda Vaughan
Northern News Services
Published Friday, September 21, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - Philip Mullins, the last accused in "Project Gunship" was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison.

Mullins received three years for conspiring to traffic in cocaine, and two for trafficking in marijuana. He was given credit for two-and-a-half years in custody.

Crown attorney Shelley Tkatch recommended a sentence ranging from five to six years,. She said Mullins, "played a pivotal role in providing crack cocaine for sale" in Yellowknife.

Tkatch likened Mullins' position in the organization, which was headquartered in a crack house run by co-accused Larry Mak, to that of a foreman.

"Mullins ran the day-to-day operation," Tkatch said.

Undercover police saw a steady supply of crack cocaine moving from Mak's home in Con Place trailer park to the Right Spot sports bar, Tkatch said.

Mullins was observed providing crack cocaine for drivers returning to the Right Spot, and sometimes took supplies to the bar himself.

The organization used simple code words, said Tkatch. Callers from the Right Spot referred to crack cocaine as "bananas" and said "I'm hungry" when they needed a resupply.

Tkatch said that Mullins was also running a "retail operation" selling marijuana from Con Place.

After his arrest, Mullins was in custody from October 2005 until April 2006, when he was released on bail into the care of a treatment centre in Alberta. Bail was revoked in July 2006 after Mullins was seen at a beer garden at the Edmonton Exhibition.

"The accused then left town, and was AWOL, and a warrant was issued," Tkatch said. He was arrested in September 2006, in a Red Deer Holiday Inn, in the possession of cocaine, marijuana, weigh scales and some cash.

Mullins' lawyer, James Brydon, said his client was "as much a victim as a purveyor" in the organization, and that much of Mullins' life was devoted to drugs.

Brydon argued that the portrayal of Mullins as a "foreman" was inaccurate.

"Clearly he is a cog in a much larger machine," Brydon said, adding that while his client was higher in the organization than street dealers, he was also much lower than the people bringing the drugs into Yellowknife.

Brydon recommended a sentence range of four to five years in prison, with double credit given for the 19 months Mullins spent in pre-trial custody.

Justice John Vertes felt that double credit was not appropriate given the nature of the breach of probation.

"The reason the accused has spent the last 12 months in prison was a result of his own deliberate actions. He had a choice, and he knew the consequences," Vertes said.

While Mullins "was not the mastermind, his role was pivotal nonetheless," Vertes said.

Major players in Gunship, such as Ken Wong and Mak, who were sentenced in July, received over six years each. The shortest sentence handed out was to Tom Desjarlais, who received a year in jail.