Prosecutor, defence agree on 5-year sentence for armed drug dealer

Crown and defence lawyers have recommended a five-year prison sentence for a 21-year-old Edmonton man who came to Yellowknife to sell cocaine and brought a handgun along with him.

The joint sentencing recommendation was heard in a Yellowknife courtroom on Monday, when Zein Mikaeel Gova pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and unauthorized possession of a loaded handgun. The prosecutor dropped four other charges he was facing.

According to an agreed statement of facts, on May 30, 2023, someone texted an RCMP officer offering to sell cocaine. The officer knew the dealer was operating out of the home of a couple with children in the Garden Townhomes.

The officer reported it to Child and Family Services. RCMP officers accompanied a child welfare worker to the residence. According to the statement of facts, police found Gova upstairs behind a coffee table. On the table was a set of scales, cash and cellphones. Police found two packages of crack cocaine in a satchel he was carrying.

The officer who searched him also noticed a bulge near Gova's ankle. It was a loaded handgun. Gova is not authorized to possess a handgun.

They got a warrant to search the home and found $530 in cash, 85 grams of cocaine and more than twice that weight of an agent used to dilute cocaine for more profitable sales.

Gova has no prior criminal record.

The judge is scheduled to give her decision on Thursday. Judges are bound to accept sentences proposed by both the prosecutor and defence unless they are grossly out of line with previous sentences.

Gova has been in jail since his arrest. With credit for that time, he will have just over two years left to serve, if the judge accepts the lawyers' recommendation. Gova's lawyer asked the judge to recommend he serve his sentence in Alberta to be closer to his family.