Judge rejects guilty plea from man accused of firearms trafficking

Nkrumah one of 10 charged following joint forces cross-border smuggling sting

A guilty plea entered in court last fall by an accused gun trafficker was struck down Friday in Superior Court due to inconsistencies in statements made by the accused during his sentence hearing. Court proceedings against Philip Kwaku Nkrumah, 34, will now return to the start with a new pretrial hearing to be scheduled on March 8.

Last fall, Nkrumah pleaded guilty to three counts related to trafficking in firearms in connection with a cross-border smuggling operation.

But Justice Renee Pomerance felt Nkrumah’s statements Feb. 1 during his sentence hearing were inconsistent with his guilty plea. She called upon him that day to again review police interview transcripts and video following his arrest, then sign an agreed statement of facts to present to her in court before she made her final decision on sentencing.

But Friday, as the sentence hearing resumed, there was no agreement by Nkrumah regarding the facts of the case that led to his guilty plea.

“The next steps will now be a pretrial because the circumstances have changed,” said Pomerance, noting that Nkrumah is still presumed innocent.

“His account appears to shift from time to time based on the comments made. It’s difficult for me to consider these contrary statements with any confidence. It’s not in the interest of justice to maintain the (guilty) plea. So, I have no alternative but to strike the plea.” Nkrumah was first sought by police in March 2016 following a yearlong, cross-border investigation that ended with the takedown of an alleged network of competing Windsor gun smugglers who supplied street gangs across Ontario. Ten people were arrested in all as part of the investigation, dubbed Project Kirby, which included officers from the Ontario Provincial Police, city police forces from Windsor and London, the Canada Border Services Agency, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

More than 100 charges were filed against the group after search warrants were executed and weapons, two kilograms of cocaine, various drug-trafficking packaging and paraphernalia, $67,000 in Canadian currency and $10,500 in U.S. currency were discovered. Nkrumah pleaded guilty in October to possession of property — a .357 Magnum — for the purpose of trafficking.

Since his arrest, Nkrumah, who grew up in Brampton, has been wearing an ankle bracelet that tracks his whereabouts.

He is one of the last among the group of 10 to be dealt with in court in connection with Project Kirby. Previous sentences for the others have ranged from a year in jail up to seven years in prison depending on the individual’s role in the gun-smuggling and drug-trafficking ring.

His account appears to shift from time to time based on the comments made.