DRUG SUPPLIER GETS TWO YEARS FOR DEATH

When police left their home that day three years ago, they felt like
officers had taken a piece of their heart.

Anita and Leo Currie had just been told their son was
dead.

Leo Shaun Currie was found deceased in bed at his Sheet Harbour home
on March 6, 2005. A friend discovered the body. The 35-year-old died
due to respiratory failure caused by a combination of alcohol and
methadone he'd drunk the evening before.

The sentiments of his parents, contained in a victim impact
statement, were read in Dartmouth provincial court yesterday by Crown
attorney Ron MacDonald.

It was Edward Melvin Fleet who gave Currie the methadone the evening
before he died. Yesterday, the 23-year-old was sentenced for criminal
negligence causing death and possession for the purpose of
trafficking.

Although he never meant for the man to die, MacDonald said, Fleet was
well aware of the effects of methadone. And although Currie was
drinking beer when Fleet handed him the drug, Fleet knew methadone
should not be taken with alcohol. MacDonald noted that soon after the
death, Fleet gave a statement to police expressing remorse.

Yesterday, Fleet was sentenced to two years in prison, a joint
recommendation between Crown and defence. Judge Patrick Curran said
he had some misgivings about the recommendation, but accepted it.

No sentence will make up for the loss of life, Curran said, and
Currie's family feels pain the rest of us really can't grasp.

Still struggling with the death of his son, Leo Currie said outside
the courtroom he doesn't understand why Fleet was given methadone by
a clinic to take without supervision.

As for Fleet's sentence, Leo Currie said: "I hope he takes this
opportunity to straighten his life around. He's a young man and it's
pitiful to see someone so young" in trouble with the law.

Curran said he simply hoped Fleet would think about the life he
helped take. The man owes it to Currie's family to live differently
than he has up to now, the judge said.

A pre-sentence report reveals Fleet had a "horrendously dysfunctional
upbringing," MacDonald said. There are drug-addiction issues, but
Fleet has not taken advantage of the treatment programs he's been
offered.

Defence lawyer Kelly Serbu said his client suffered a brain injury
during a car accident when he was 14 years old. Soon after, Fleet
began abusing drugs.

Fleet had obtained a weekend dose of methadone lawfully from a
clinic. He arrived at Currie's home in the early evening. Fleet gave
the methadone to Currie and then left.

The court was told Fleet did this to gain favour with Currie, and
there was something of an agreement that Currie would buy more in the
future. That evening, witnesses noticed Currie drinking from the
bottle of methadone and drinking alcohol. He became extremely
intoxicated and his friends put him to bed in the recovery position.

The next day a close friend went to check on Currie. He was dead.