Drug courier fears he will die in jail

By: Mike McIntyre, Winnipeg Free Press, 07/17/03

Judge rejects plea for leniency, gives him 4 more years behind bars.

A veteran drug courier who fears he will die in prison and begged for leniency was sentenced yesterday in Winnipeg to four more years behind bars.

Joseph Andrews, 63, of Langley, B.C., was seeking a conditional sentence that would allow him to return to the community, where he requires extensive medical treatment for diabetes and kidney ailments.

Queen's Bench Justice Kenneth Hanssen said drug entrepreneurs like Andrews must be punished severely to send a strong message across the country.

The four-year prison term is in addition to the equivalent of three years already spent in pre-trial custody.

"A conditional sentence would send a wrong message to you and others. It would not adequately denounce your conduct and deter others," said Hanssen.

During his sentencing hearing Tuesday, an irate Andrews said he has been punished enough, describing harrowing conditions at the Remand Centre which have seen him forced to sleep in his own blood and urine. Andrews claimed city police officers who arrested him said he should take up woodworking while in prison "so I could build myself a coffin, because I'm going to need it".

He pleaded with Hanssen to spare him the rod, saying "What do you want me to do, judge? I'm finished. You sentence me to any more time, and I'm going to die."

Andrews has an extensive criminal record spanning four decades, including previous drug convictions.

He is also wanted on Massachusetts for violating terms of a previous sentence.

Andrews is married to a woman he met while travelling to Mexico on drug business. She remains in Mexico with her ailing father.

The U.S. plans to extradite Andrews to serve the balance of a five-to-eight year prison term once his Canadian charges are finished, court was told. Police believe Andrews was a drug mule for the Hells Angels, although he denies working with any bikers or organized crime groups.

Winnipeg drug officers stopped his rental vehicle in February 2002 on Portage Avenue just west of the Perimeter Highway and found two kilograms of cocaine hidden in a cooler behind the seat.

The drugs carry a street value of between $200,000 to $300,000 and had a high purity rate of between 80 per cent to 86 per cent.

Police believe the cocaine was destined for the Winnipeg chapter of the Hells Angels.

Andrews was convicted of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking following a trial earlier this year.

His only defence was that police had carried out an illegal search of his vehicle. He was found guilty after Hanssen ruled the search warrant evidence could be used in court.

Defence lawyer Ian Garber said his client was doing a friend in B.C. a favour by shipping the drugs halfway across the country. Andrews is known as an "honourable guy" in the illicit world of moving drugs, said Garber.