JUDGE TOSSES DRUGS AND WEAPON CHARGES

Handgun And Coke Found But Rights Disregarded

A B.C. Supreme Court justice has tossed out drug and weapons charges
against a North Vancouver man, saying police violated his rights to
obtain the evidence against him.

Madam Justice Catherine Bruce ruled an illegal handgun and an ounce of
cocaine found in Kenneth Gaba's apartment could not be admitted as
evidence in his trial because North Vancouver RCMP violated his rights
both before and after searching his home.

"Along the spectrum of seriousness, I find the conduct of the police
in this case was very serious . . I find that their conduct bordered
on recklessness or willful blindness in regard to Mr. Gaba's charter
rights," wrote the judge.

Gaba, 36, was charged with possession of an illegal handgun and
possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking after police
searched his apartment in North Vancouver under a search warrant on
July 7, 2007.

He had first come to police attention after his ex-girlfriend
complained that he was constantly trying to contact her through
friends and family, including her mother.

After a police officer told her a peace bond would not be granted
unless violence was involved, the woman said Gaba had assaulted her in
the past, kept a handgun in his apartment and sold drugs at a local
club.

The police officer later spoke with Gaba, who told her he had e-mailed
the ex-girlfriend's mother, had dropped off her dry cleaning to a
friend and passed on a message from the woman's doctor. He said he
only wanted the woman to pay back money that she owed him, adding she
was a drug addict who was seeing a psychiatrist.

On July 7, 2007, several officers showed up at Gaba's apartment with a
search warrant to look for a handgun and ammunition. Prior to
conducting the search, one of the officers told him, "We can make this
very easy or very hard." Gaba then told the police there was a handgun
in the kitchen drawer and drugs in the cupboard.

Gaba's defence lawyer Brian Coleman argued in court that both the
evidence found in the search and statements Gaba made to police should
be tossed out because police had violated his client's rights and had
not conducted a proper investigation or presented an accurate view of
the facts in the request to obtain the search warrant.

The judge agreed with that, noting the investigating officer had
largely taken the ex-girlfriend's word and hadn't sought or received
any corroboration about Gaba's allegedly threatening behaviour. She
added the police officer also had not read any of the e-mails Gaba had
supposedly sent his ex-girlfriend and did not mention that the woman
didn't have a computer. The police officer also failed to mention the
woman was an alcoholic and a drug addict and that the last time she
had seen a gun in the apartment was likely more than five weeks
earlier, the judge noted.

She added officer also didn't give Gaba a chance to call a lawyer when
they showed up at his apartment, prior to when he made incriminating
statements about the guns and drugs.

Bruce refused to admit the evidence, commenting that there was "a
pattern of misconduct by police in this case that reflects a flagrant
disregard of Mr. Gaba's charter rights."