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A Surrey drug dealer has been handed a six-year jail sentence for his role in the death of an addict over a drug debt on Remembrance Day in 2019.
According to Supreme Court of B.C. Justice Martha Devlin, in the summer of 2019 Andrew Baldwin, 30, of Surrey incurred a $5,000 debt for drugs supplied by Munroop Singh Hayer.
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Hayer, 30, was the leader of a low-level drug group and over the fall of 2019 began pressuring Baldwin to repay the debt.
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In September and October, Hayer began harassing Baldwin’s mom by text using foul and threatening language.
On Sept. 25, Hayer wrote “cant be anymore clear then that if you can pay a measly five grant then just know weather hes clean or not that’s all his life will be worth so ask your self is your son just worth five grand or is it better to pay that and when hes clean he work on paying you and me back and everybody can be headache free.”
By November, the debt was still unpaid so Hayer ordered one of his underlings, Jordan Bottomley, to visit Baldwin at a friend’s home and threaten him.
On the evening of Nov. 11, Bottomley broke into the home, armed with a knife, and stabbed Baldwin 10 times leading to his death.
In January 2020, Hayer, Bottomley and two associates were arrested. Hayer and Bottomley were charged with first-degree murder but was reduced to manslaughter in April 2023 in exchange for the pair admitting to the crime.
Bottomley was handed an eight-year sentence last July.
Devlin said that the Crown wanted Hayer jailed for 12 years, while his defence was asking for a five-year sentence.
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“In particular, the Crown emphasizes, in relation to the aggravating factors, that Mr. Hayer engaged in a campaign of threats to recover a drug debt. When this was not successful, he orchestrated a plan to have Mr. Bottomley, a subordinate in the drug trade, confront Mr. Baldwin — a drug-addicted, vulnerable person,” Devlin wrote.
By contrast, the defence stated that while manslaughter was a grave offence, Hayer had simply told Bottomley to confront Baldwin over the drug debt and did not know Bottomley would be armed.
Devlin sentenced Hayer to six years in jail, which will be reduced to five years and six months due to some time already served by Hayer.
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