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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A man convicted of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking threw his head back in despair as family members in the courtroom wept after hearing Judge Garth Malakoe sentence him last Wednesday to nine months in jail.

Crown prosecutor Marc Lecorre told Malakoe the defence's recommendation of a conditional sentence - involving no jail time - for Kevin Peter Gosselin, 26, would be inappropriate on the grounds that Gosselin was "not a reluctant seller," nor was he pressed into drug dealing. Rather, he was an active participant in a commercial drug operation.

Malakoe agreed, adding that individuals in the North need to be aware that drug trafficking will involve jail. Malakoe also denied defence lawyer Ron Davidson's request that Gosselin be considered for an early release from jail given his client's efforts to rehabilitate himself and change his life after his October 2010 arrest. Malakoe said it wasn't his place to tell corrections officials how to do their job, and that Gosselin's efforts were accounted for in the sentence.

After the sentence was delivered, Gosselin, wearing dress pants and a dress shirt, was taken to the courthouse's prisoner cells before being transported to the North Slave Correctional Centre.

Gosselin was arrested on Oct. 12, 2010, after the Yellowknife RCMP drug squad received information that he was dealing drugs in the city. On that date, officers texted Gosselin and agreed to buy three grams of cocaine for $300 at a parking lot on Range Lake Road. At 12:57 p.m., the RCMP arrested Gosselin in his Dodge pick-up truck. However, before the arrest, Gosselin swallowed the three bags of cocaine, said Lecorre at Gosselin's sentencing hearing on April 12, the same day he pleaded guilty to the charge in territorial court.

Gosselin was taken to Stanton Territorial Hospital for observation and the next morning, he defecated the bags of cocaine. The RCMP also seized 10-millilitres of the steroid Trenbolone, several medical needles, a Blackberry phone and a backpack.

Gosselin's interest in selling cocaine was to support his own drug habit, said Lecorre, who requested a jail term in the range of 10-12 months. Gosselin's criminal record includes a drunk driving conviction, a failure to attend court and a failure to comply with a court order.

Besides the jail term, Malakoe sentenced Gosselin to one year of probation after his release, banned him from owning firearms for 10 years and ordered him to provide a sample of his DNA to the RCMP's national data bank. Malakoe also issued a $100 victims of crime surcharge.

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