By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

trafficker sentenced

Nanaimo opioid dealer handed federal prison sentence

Jun 2, 2020 | 1:31 PM

NANAIMO — A Nanaimo man was issued a four year prison term for trafficking what was called an alarming mixture of opioids.

The recently released BC Supreme Court judgment against Michael Damien Byrne, 42, amounts to roughly two years and five months of further jail time after credited for time already served by the prolific offender.

Byrne was busted in a May, 2017 traffic stop in Nanaimo and forcefully removed from the car by the RCMP’s Emergency Response Team. Searches of Byrne’s vehicle and motel room turned up drugs, thousands of dollars in cash, drug paraphernalia and weapons.

Court was told Byrne possessed a mixture of just under 16 grams of heroin, fentanyl and carfentanil.

He’d been linked to the drug trade by confidential informants, which prompted a surveillance operation leading to his arrest.

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Byrne’s lawyer Cheyne Hodson outlined his client had a difficult childhood, including an abusive, inattentive and alcoholic mother, a father who also abused alcohol and was often away for work.

He has a long history of opioid abuse, a grade nine education and was in a cycle of drug addiction causing him to lose jobs and end up on the street.

Justice Douglas Thompson said in his decision he accepts the main reason Byrne turned to crime was to feed his expensive drug habit.

“The quantities of fentanyl and carfentanil found in his possession are significant and the variation and extent of purity levels of fentanyl in the heroin/fentanyl mixture is alarming,” Justice Thompson said, who noted Byrne was was operating higher up the chain than a street-level dealer.

Justice Thompson said the drug mixing methods in Byrne’s motel room exposed users to risk at a level showing disregard for human life.

Court was told the offender has 15 prior convictions, nine of which involve simple drug possession, while there was a notable gap in Byrne’s record between 2011 and 2017.

Justice Thompson noted Byrne has made rehabilitative steps in recent months while on bail by completing a four-month course at an addictions treatment centre.

The judgement against Byrne concludes a lengthy sentencing odyssey which began in April, 2019.

At that time Byrne pleaded guilty, however he failed to return to court for the continuation of his sentencing hearing after a mid-morning break.

Byrne’s application late last year to have his case diverted to Drug Treatment Court in Vancouver was denied.

Justice Thompson also ordered Byrne to provide a DNA sample and was also issued a lifetime weapons ban.

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