'COCAINE WAS WORTH MORE TO YOU ... THAN A LIFE': JUDGE

Parents of Dead Man Warn Others Against Being a Drug Mule for 'Easy
Money'

The parents of a young man who was stripped, chained to a chair and
beaten after he tried to make some money as a drug mule urged others
not to make the same mistake.

"Do not be lured by this so-called easy money and the glamorous life
that you think a gang member or drug trafficker has," said Ian and
Marlyn Ferguson in a statement Friday.

Just moments before, the seventh man convicted in connection with the
death of their son, Graeme Ferguson, a former security guard, was
sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Paul Layoun, 31, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, conspiracy to kidnap
and forcibly confine Ferguson, conspiracy to possess cocaine for the
purpose of trafficking and a raft of weapons-related offences.

His sentence brings to an end the five-year effort to identify and
punish Ferguson's killers.

After Layoun was led away in handcuffs, a tearful Marlyn Ferguson
stood to thank the judge, Ann Alder. "This has been very difficult for
us, but we're glad we've come and seen this through."

Graeme Ferguson, a former security guard, made two trips from B.C. to
Ottawa in 2005 to deliver drugs. When he arrived at the Voyageur bus
station on Catherine Street on his second trip, he saw police and
thought he might be in trouble, so he abandoned his luggage and
returned to B.C. The luggage was later placed in the unclaimed luggage
depot inside the bus station.

Ferguson returned to Ottawa the next month and was grabbed by the
people who'd been expecting the drugs. They took him to Montreal,
where he was stripped to his underwear, chained, beaten and held for
six days in a warehouse. On July 19, 2005, when they finally accepted
his story that he'd left the drugs at the bus station in a panic after
seeing the police, two of his captors brought him back to the bus
station and he picked up the missing luggage. The bags included one
suitcase containing 17 kilograms of pure Colombian cocaine with a
police-estimated street value of $3.5 million.

Ferguson left the station with his bags, but collapsed at the corner
of Catherine and Kent streets and was later declared dead on arrival
at hospital as a result of his beating. He was 27.

Ferguson was paid $3,000 for his first trip and was to be paid $12,000
for the trip that ended his life.

Six other men are already in prison in connection to Ferguson's death.
Four men pleaded guilty to manslaughter, conspiracy to kidnap and
forcibly confine Ferguson, and conspiracy to possess cocaine for the
purpose of trafficking. A fifth man pleaded guilty to forcible
confinement, extortion and robbery, while a sixth man pleaded guilty
to extortion and forcible confinement. They each received sentences
ranging from two to 15 years.

Layoun evaded police for four years, but feels remorse for what he
did, his lawyer said in court Friday. "He comes before the court a
much-chastened individual," Joseph Bloomenfeld said. "All he wants to
do from here on in is have a good life."

Layoun wore an oversized, graphic-printed white T-shirt and glasses
and had a neatly-trimmed goatee. The court heard he has lost more than
220 pounds since his arrest. "I feel grief for what I've done," he
said, standing in the prisoner's box to address the Fergusons. "My
lawyer didn't tell me to say that. I'm saying it for my own goodwill."

The judge accepted a joint submission from the Crown and defence
lawyers and sentenced Layoun to 12 years in prison, less a year for
time already served.

The sheer brutality of the beating, the quantity of drugs involved and
Layoun's direct role in Ferguson's death need to be renounced, the
judge said.

She added the high-stakes world of drug-trafficking is a haven for
violence and greed.

"Mr. Ferguson died because cocaine was worth more to you and others
than a life and I find that morally repulsive," Alder said.