PUSHER SENTENCED IN ECSTASY DEATH

A drug pusher who popped an ecstasy pill into the mouth of a teenaged
girl who later died has been sent to jail for two years less a day for
refusing to get help when the girl began convulsing and lost
consciousness.

Some members of Nicole Malik's family wept with disappointment when
they heard the sentence.

"Two years is not enough for this," the 17-year-old's stepbrother,
James Malik, said outside the downtown Toronto court. "We had expected
a lot lengthier sentence."

But Crown attorney Calvin Barry said the sentence was appropriate,
given that Johnrex Bernandino had not been in trouble with the law
before and has a stable work history.

Mr. Bernandino, 31, pleaded guilty to the rare charge of criminal
negligence causing death by omission in that he failed to get medical
attention when Ms. Malik became ill, Mr. Barry said.

She died Dec. 1, 2001, after taking two ecstasy tablets. It was only
the second time she had experimented with drugs, said her aunt,
Kimberly Tietz, who raised the girl since she was 6. She had been
taken away from her parents because both were drug abusers.

The pretty Grade 12 student at a Barrie high school was remembered
yesterday as a loving, caring person who adored animals and who wanted
to bring the homeless into her house to feed them and to keep them
warm.

The teen, who dreamed of being an architect, was never sad, her
30-year-old stepbrother said. "She was the happiest person I ever knew."

Ms. Malik, who was living in Oro Station at the time, went with a
friend to the Alpha Lounge, an Internet cafe on Bloor Street West, on
Nov. 30, 2001. Her new boyfriend, Paul Busch, 19, worked there.

Mr. Bernandino, who acted as manager while the owners were away, was a
known drug trafficker, Mr. Barry told the court. Mr. Bernandino
brought a supply of 50 to 100 of the blue ecstasy pills with a
Superman crest logo on them. He distributed some free, but sold others
at $20 a tablet.

Ms. Malik received a freebie, but later gave Mr. Busch money to
purchase another pill.

According to the facts read into the court record, Ms. Malik keeled
over, striking her head on the wall at about 6 a.m. on Dec. 1. She
lost consciousness and began having seizures.

Mr. Busch and another man asked Mr. Bernandino to summon help "but
were talked out of it by Mr. Bernandino, who advised this was normal,
he had seen it before and she would be okay," Mr. Barry said.

Mr. Bernandino held the teenager for 10 to 15 minutes while the
seizures continued. He then carried her to a couch as she drifted in
and out of consciousness.

It was not until 11 a.m. that someone saw she was foaming at the
mouth, at which point Mr. Bernandino called an ambulance. She was
pronounced dead at the scene.

After the guilty plea was entered, Mr. Barry dropped charges of
manslaughter and trafficking in drugs against Mr. Bernandino.

Mr. Barry said many people believe ecstasy, a banned substance, is a
love drug that is more typically associated with raves. "Obviously,
it's a pernicious drug and is causing people's death," he said.

There were nine ecstasy-related deaths reported in Ontario in
1999.

Mr. Barry said it is manufactured by biker gangs in labs and the
concentration can vary from pill to pill even though they may look
alike.