A drug dealer sentenced to prison for illegally possessing a sawed-off shotgun he used to kill a man in self-defence has been given a second stint for selling drugs behind a downtown hotel.
Court of King’s Bench Justice Sadie Bond found Neigel Ryan Noel, 55, guilty of possession of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking, possession for methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking and possession of the proceeds of crime in March, after a trial.
The judge said at Noel’s sentencing hearing Wednesday that police picked him up behind a hotel in September 2021, where they found him with five bags of fentanyl weighing about 14.43 grams and two smaller baggies of meth.
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Neigel Ryan Noel, 53, is serving time in federal prison.
“Courts across the country, including the Supreme Court of Canada, have held that sentences for fentanyl trafficking must be higher than those for trafficking other… substances. Courts have recognized the high rates of fentanyl-related deaths and overdoses across the country. Fentanyl is a dangerous drug. Its toxicity makes its users vulnerable to overdose and death,” Bond said.
After outlining Noel’s troubled criminal and personal background, Bond gave him a four-year prison sentence for the fentanyl charge, with concurrent 18-month sentences for the other offences.
Bond reduced the penitentiary stint from an initial five-year sentence for the fentanyl because Noel was already sentenced in August to four-and-a-half years behind federal prison bars for possession of a restricted or prohibited firearm and two counts of possessing a weapon contrary to court orders. That would have kept him behind bars for seven-and-a-half years.
“This is a heavy sentence. In the circumstances of this case, in my view, there is reason to reduce the sentence in an effort to encourage Mr. Noel’s motivation to improve himself. As he said when he addressed the court, there is still a chance for him,” Bond said.
“Mr. Noel, I don’t know what else to say except for to wish you the best.”
He has a total of six-and-a-half years left to serve on his two sentences, Bond told court.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES
Police officers on Young Street, the day after a man was fatally shot, in May 2022.
The gun charges stemmed from the shotgun he kept beside him on his bed in a Young Street triplex as he sold fentanyl on the evening of May 4, 2022. He used the gun to shoot 39-year-old Scott Matthew Catcheway in the neck when the younger man pointed a gun at Noel in an attempt to rob him.
Noel was initially charged with second-degree murder. Crown prosecutors stayed the charge, seemingly because Noel legitimately feared for his life in the encounter and would have been able to argue he killed Catcheway in self-defence.
erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca
Erik Pindera
Reporter
Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Erik.
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