After realizing she’d left her methadone at her boyfriend’s house in Sarnia, Ashley Grant, who badly needed cash, agreed to sell it to him to use to get high.
After realizing she’d left her methadone at her boyfriend’s house in Sarnia, Ashley Grant, who badly needed cash, agreed to sell it to him.
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But after striking a deal – $20 in cash and $20 off a prior drug debt – Grant bonded Robert Couture he should only take half of it at a time.
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“Seriously. A full dose could kill you and you don’t have Narcan,” she wrote to him on Facebook messenger on March 14, 2021 around 2 pm, according to a statement of agreed facts heard Friday in a Sarnia courtroom.
“I know,” Couture responded.
“OK, as long as you promised not to take it all at the same time,” Grant reiterated.
“Promise,” Couture replied.
Those were among the final words the couple exchanged as Couture, 36, died the next day. His unconscious body was discovered by Sarnia police and Lambton paramedics on the front porch of his Campbell Street home on March 15, 2021, the court heard.
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“There was a post-mortem done. There were heart issues. Methadone would have been a contributing factor,” federal prosecutor Brian Higgins said after reading the statement of agreed facts.
The coroner and a trio of Sarnia police officers, Det.-Const. Jeff Rovers, Det.-Sgt. Johann Lewis and Const. Alex Ross, found an empty bottle of methadone in a garbage pail in Couture’s bedroom.
It was in Grant’s name.
After getting a search warrant for Couture’s cellphone, they also discovered the discussion about the $20 deal. Methadone can be safely used to treat addiction to drugs such as heroin and painkillers, but a prescription is required and selling it to someone else is illegal.
Grant was charged with drug trafficking and on Friday, 2.5 years after the incident, the 27-year-old Sarnia resident pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months of house arrest and a curfew.
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“This situation has been awful for everyone on every side of it and I am sincerely sorry that things happened like this,” she told the judge. “I hope you have some mercy on me.”
The six-month conditional sentence Higgins and defense lawyer Luigi Perzia jointly suggested was a reasonable one, Superior Court Justice Russell Raikes said.
“She’s recognized that what she did was wrong and she’s trying to set a new path,” he said.
The new path includes a focus on family, volunteerism, and furthering her education, with a goal of becoming a social worker who can counsel other people dealing with grievance or addictions issues.
“It’s an unfortunate circumstance all around, really, but Ms. Grant’s hope for the future is that somehow she can just take her experiences and channel it in a positive manner and help others as a social worker,” Perzia said.
She also continues to take methadone to treat an opioid addiction, he added.
“I’m encouraged by the steps that you’ve taken to turn your life around,” Raikes said to Grant. “Keep at it. Keep going.”
The sentence, three months of house arrest and three months of a curfew, includes a ban on using illegal drugs and alcohol.
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