A prisoner at the Niagara Detention Centre in Thorold has been convicted of drug-related charges after guards discovered fentanyl and crystal meth inside his jail cell—but the man’s bunkmate, who was also charged in the bust, was found not guilty.
According to a court judgment released last week, inmates Matthew Mcara and Arkadiusz Buksinski shared Cell 6 at the NDC when two guards conducted a random search on the morning of June 16, 2021.
After buzzing open the cell door at 8:15 a.m., the correctional officers watched Buksinski jump up from the bottom bunk, grab a brown bag from the floor and frantically dump the contents down the toilet. When the guards ordered him to stop, Buksinski ignored the officers and kept flushing.
“That the bag did not contain yesterday’s sandwich is obvious,” wrote Justice Joseph De Filippis, of the Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines. “The only rational conclusion is that Mr. Buksinski dumped illicit drugs into the toilet.”
He didn’t flush all the evidence, however. Inside the cell, officers found plastic bags containing 18.7 grams of crystal methamphetamine and 14.5 grams of fentanyl. Combined, the drugs had an estimated street value of nearly $6,000.
“The value of both drugs is enhanced in a custodial facility because of the reduced supply,” the judge wrote, adding “that drugs in jail can be sold for greater profit or traded for other goods and sexual favours.”
Niagara Regional Police charged Buksinski and Mcara with two counts each of drug possession for the purpose of trafficking. At trial, the prosecution argued that both men were in “joint possession” of the illegal substances.
The judge disagreed—convicting Buksinski but acquitting Mcara.
“Mr. Mcara was not seen carrying anything or attempting to destroy evidence and nothing of interest was found at his bunk,” De Filippis wrote in his ruling, handed down Feb. 23. “It is probable that Mr. Mcara knew about Mr. Buksinski's drugs. The two men shared a small space. That probability is not enough to ground a finding of guilt. In any event, there is nothing to suggest he had control over the drugs.”
At one point during the trial, Buksinski’s lawyer suggested "it could have been tobacco" her client was flushing down the toilet. She also argued that a third party could have planted the drugs inside the cell.
The judge dismissed that argument as “a fantasy.”
A sentence has yet to be handed down.
Buksinski is no stranger to Ontario's criminal justice system. Just one week before he tried to flush his drugs, Buksinski was arrested for allegedly stealing an SUV in St. Catharines and barricading himself inside a home.
