Antigonish man convicted of cocaine possession

An Antigonish County man has been found guilty of possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

Pellet handguns and a large knife were also found in Gabriel Chaisson’s home in Goshen. But Supreme Court Justice Scott Norton ruled they did not meet the standard of necessarily being weapons and dismissed charges related to them.

The charges stem from an October 2020 raid by Antigonish County RCMP on a house on Highway 316 in Goshen. The RCMP had a warrant stating they had “reasonable grounds to believe and did believe there would be a handgun, ammunition, firearm or other prohibited devices at that residence.”

A search eight months earlier of the same house had resulted in charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking charges against David Walsh.

When nobody answered their knock during the October raid, the RCMP used a ram to bash in the door that had been barricaded with two by six boards.

Inside they found Colin Taylor, who was wanted on an outstanding bench warrant.

As officers searched the house they heard a noise from the attic and saw a broken picture frame on the ground below an attic hatch.

“(Cpl. James Jessome) yelled for whoever was in the attic to present themselves,” the decision said.

“Mr. Chaisson presented himself and he (Jessome) assisted Mr. Chaisson to come down from the attic via the hatch in the hall.”

In the attic RCMP found chunks of a white substance later found to be more than 150 grams of cocaine.

They also found plastic bags suitable for holding a single gram of cocaine and a scale along with replica handguns that fire pellets.

“(Chaisson’s) presence in the attic as the police enter the home is consistent with the evidence of Cpl. Lane that traffickers often rush to try and conceal or destroy the drugs at the time of a police search,” Norton said in his decision.

Chaisson was also found guilty of breaching probation.

Sentencing will be handed down at a later date.