NANAIMO — Significant challenges facing Crown counsel in determining who was responsible for what resulted in several dropped weapons charges.
Following a notable central Nanaimo early morning traffic stop on January 22, 2022, a guilty plea to a singular possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine charge resulted from drugs and a range of weapons were found in a car.
Nicholas Stephen Hewlett, 35, pleaded guilty to the charge on Tuesday, Sept. at BC Supreme Court in Nanaimo and was handed a 12-month conditional sentence order.
Facts outlined by Crown counsel’s Emma Reaume stated a since deceased co-accused driving a car with expired insurance and stolen insurance decal abruptly turned off Bowen Rd. onto Meredith Rd. after eye contact was made with a patrolling Nanaimo RCMP officer.
The registered owner of the car was Hewlett, while a woman who had several charges dropped against her was in the backseat.
Inside the car was a haul of weapons, including a loaded shotgun, shotgun ammo, homemade gun with a round in the chamber, sword, taser, two batons, two firearm magazine couplers, handcuffs, zip-ties, gloves and masks,
An improvised explosive device, containing a fingerprint of the deceased man, was also found.
A pencil case with 22 grams of cocaine divided into 50 individual packages, along with $760 cash, was found in a pencil case.
The value of the cocaine was estimated between about $3,380 and $4,130.
Defence attorney Babak Zargarian said Crown counsel would have faced significant issues at trial in determining who was responsible for possessing which items.
Zargarian said Hewlett was released on bail in November 2023 and “did very well” in a residential treatment setting.
Hewlett moved to the interior and is employed in the construction industry with a sober work crew, Zargarian reported.
“He’s well liked. I’ve heard from his co-worker, I’ve heard from his boss, I’ve heard from his family members all of whom speak to the positive path that he’s on,” Zargarian said before justice Lindsay LeBlanc Tuesday afternoon.
Hewlett had no prior criminal record.
The first six month of his non-custodial sentence includes a curfew.
Zargarian noted his client expects to regain custody of his child shortly as Hewlett’s transformation continues.
The offender was handed a 10-year firearms ban and forced to submit a DNA sample for police.
Incriminating items seized during the bust were also forfeited.
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