Confessed drug-ring matriarch Sandra Guiboche started with good intentions when she set up shop in Point Douglas and began selling highly pure, pink-dyed crack cocaine, a court was told Wednesday.
In what sounded like a defence that Breaking Bad’s fictional meth dealer Walter White might have mounted had he ever made it to trial, defence lawyer Saul Simmonds argued Guiboche was trying to help already-addicted users who were getting sick as a result of using tainted crack.
“I’m not going to say to the court this is the smartest way to help them, but her feeling was, ‘OK, we have to get you drugs that are clean,’” Simmonds told King’s Bench Justice Ken Champagne.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
Sandra Guiboche (in wheelchair), sits outside the Law Courts Building during a break for lunch in her trial Wednesday.
Guiboche, 60, was the primary target of a lengthy police investigation dubbed Project Matriarch, and is alleged to have been dealing drugs in the Point Douglas area on and off for 25 years.
She was among 27 people arrested in the spring of 2021 following a months-long investigation that resulted in the seizure of more than $2.3 million worth of drugs and property.
Guiboche has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to traffic in cocaine. The Crown is seeking a sentence of 10 years in prison.
Simmonds tied Guiboche’s crime to a traumatic, physically and sexually abusive upbringing, during which she assumed early responsibility for caring for several siblings.
“The real issue for Ms. Guiboche is she lived a life that was always one where she supported other people,” Simmonds said. “She is, in a bizarre way, a caring individual who wants to help other people.”
“She is, in a bizarre way, a caring individual who wants to help other people.”–Saul Simmonds, defence lawyer
Guiboche has 25 prior criminal convictions, nine of them for drug offences. In 1999, she was sentenced to six years in prison after she was arrested for heading a “dial-a-dealer” operation.
Simmonds said Guiboche’s early drug convictions occurred when she was struggling with addictions.
Prison “kept her clean for the longest time,” he said. Released from custody following her 1999 conviction, Guiboche remained drug-free and started working.
“Everything seem(ed) to be going OK… and then, all of a sudden, people around her start to get their own addictions (and) some of them started to die because they were using drugs that are tainted ” Simmonds said.
“Some of the people around her come to her and are asking her — because they know about some of her history — to help them. I’m not going to tell the court that is something that should put a badge on her chest, but it gives the court some insight why we find ourselves in this situation in the first place.”
During the course of the six-month investigation, police intercepted 60,000 communications, a large volume of which captured Guiboche directing the actions of drug-ring participants, including six of her own family members. On recordings played for court, Guiboche can be heard ordering the assault of underlings she suspected of crossing her.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS
Guiboche was among 27 people arrested in 2021 following a months-long investigation that resulted in the seizure of more than $2.3 million worth of drugs and property.
Simmonds said several of the communications include Guiboche and others talking about how the “white” crack sold by competitors was making users sick. Simmonds argued Guiboche’s decision to dye her drugs pink was part of her “Robin Hood-ish” plan to protect her customers.
Champagne questioned that position, saying another argument would be Guiboche was trying to control who was selling her drugs.
“The concern about the white being introduced in her neighbourhood wasn’t necessarily because it was making people ill, but because it was taking part of the economic benefit from her,” he said.
The province seized 10 properties Guiboche owned or co-owned with co-accused Amanda Rouse, three of which were rented out to members of the drug ring and used to process and stash drugs.
Court has heard Guiboche and other top members of the drug ring purchased kilos of powdered cocaine from three suppliers, which were then converted to crack at one of her properties on Lisgar Avenue. Once processed and packaged, the drugs were then picked up by “dishers” who distributed the drugs for sale by dealers at another Lisgar Avenue “crack shack.”
“The presence of active drug dealing on Lisgar Avenue from Sandra’s houses had a massive emotional impact on those living on the street and others in the community,” said former longtime area resident and anti-crime activist Sel Burrows, who provided a community impact statement to court.
“Sometimes over 200 taxis a day came to houses owned by Sandra. “Some (residents) said they couldn’t get their cars out of their driveway for the taxis lined up down the street.”
Simmonds recommended Guiboche receive a sentence of between seven and eight years, citing her age, failing health and personal history.
Guiboche, who arrived at court in a wheelchair, said she was “sorry for all the damage” she caused.
“It’s been a difficult time through all this and I’m responsible for my actions,” she told court. “I like to think I am changing. I don’t know if I am, but it is something I am working on.”
Champagne will sentence Guiboche on June 25.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
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