WINDSOR, Ont. — A mother of three is going to jail for nearly two years for smuggling guns into Canada.
Michelle Downey, 38, had tearfully pleaded to be allowed to serve her sentence at home in Lasalle, Ont., with her children, but Justice Scott Campbell feels a term of house arrest is not appropriate.
In April 2013, Downey was referred to secondary inspection at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont., where Canada Border Services Agency officers found three loaded guns, magazines and ammunition in garbage bags behind the glove box of her vehicle.
Downie had argued that she thought she was only bringing in cash from the United States.
She was eventually convicted of 22 smuggling-related offences, but saw some of those charges stayed.
After being sentenced, Downey began to cry and told her children she loved them before being led away.
Assistant Crown lawyer Brian Manarin had asked for three to four years in prison, but conceded watching Downie beg for a lighter sentence was emotional.
"It is awful. I mean I don't take any pleasure in that," he said.
