A former B.C. MLA’s son has pleaded guilty to possessing acetyl-fentanyl, while a charge of importation was dropped Monday.
The guilty plea came on the day Kasimir Tyabji-Sandana was supposed to stand trial.
Instead, a joint submission was made by the prosecution and defence, which included a proposed conditional sentence of two years less a day.
According to the agreed statement of facts, in July 2015 authorities intercepted a package addressed to Tyabji-Sandana containing acetyl-fentanyl.
At that time, the drug was removed and replaced with an inert substance and Calgary police took over the delivery of the package.
Court heard “an undercover police officer posing as a Canada Post employee delivered the package” which was accepted by Tyabji-Sandana.
He opened the package and then threw it from the balcony of the residence as police tactical team officers executed a search warrant.
Tyabji-Sandana admits he believed it was a controlled substance and that he was attempting to take possession of it.
According to the facts presented in court, acetyl-fentanyl is less potent than fentanyl.
Tyabji-Sandana is sentenced to two years less a day to be served in three phases in the community.
The first will be spent on house arrest with some exceptions to allow him to attend university classes.
After that, he will spend the next eight months following a curfew and the final months he will continue to follow conditions as outlined by the court.
The 30-year-old spent five months in pre-trial custody.
He has no criminal record
Court heard he is taking his life in a “positive direction” and considers what happened a “dark period in his life” and “something he’s very very ashamed of.”
His mother, Judi Tyabji, was the youngest member on record in the B.C. legislature when she was first elected in 1991 at age 26.