Highway 7 crash led police to loaded handgun, fentanyl; man sentenced to 6.5 years

What began as a call to the Lennox and Addington County detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) about a vehicle that had slid off Highway 7 in Addington Highlands ultimately led to the discovery of a loaded handgun, cocaine, and fentanyl — and, more than two years later, a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence for one of the vehicle's occupants.

David Jajua, one of four men arrested and charged following the accident on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, has been sentenced by Ontario Superior Court Justice Graeme Mew after pleading guilty on May 21, 2026, to four offences arising from the incident. At the Frontenac County Court House on June 26, 2026, Jajua was sentenced to a total of six and a half years in prison, six months less than the Crown had sought. With enhanced credit for time already spent in custody, Jajua has approximately two years and 10 months remaining to serve.

In handing down the sentence, Mew described the combination of a loaded firearm and fentanyl trafficking as posing a serious danger to the public. The judge also devoted considerable attention to the more complicated question of how much a person's childhood trauma and systemic disadvantage should affect the punishment imposed for serious crimes.

The answer, he concluded, was that Jajua's childhood history helped to “explain, although not justify” the choices he made.

Crash on Highway 7 led to arrests

As previously reported by Kingstonist, shortly after 10 a.m. on January 16, 2024, Lennox and Addington OPP responded to a single-vehicle collision on Highway 7, just east of Kellar Road in Addington Highlands Township.

Police said at the time that the vehicle had slid off the road and struck a guardrail. Four men were outside the vehicle when officers arrived, and no one was injured.

While speaking with the men, police reported smelling cannabis and observing open alcohol inside the vehicle.

A subsequent search of the vehicle turned what began as a collision call into a significant drug and firearms investigation.

The OPP reported finding a loaded handgun, approximately seven pills of suspected codeine, 5.14 grams of suspected methamphetamine, 80.07 grams of suspected cocaine, and 11.92 grams of suspected fentanyl.

All four men were arrested and initially faced numerous charges.

Jajua's case ultimately proceeded on a much narrower set of offences.

According to Mew's sentencing decision, Jajua, who was 32 at the time, had been sitting in the front passenger seat. Beneath that seat, police found a loaded 9 mm Jericho 941 semi-automatic handgun.

Police also found approximately 80 grams of cocaine and 12 grams of fentanyl.

Mew said the fentanyl represented approximately 120 doses.

Jajua pleaded guilty to occupying a motor vehicle knowing a firearm was present, possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, possession of fentanyl for the purpose of trafficking, and possessing a firearm contrary to a prohibition order.

He was already prohibited from possessing weapons when the Highway 7 incident occurred.

Fentanyl's impact on communities

Mew placed considerable weight on the potential consequences of what was found in the vehicle.

“The presence of a loaded handgun in a motor vehicle represents a serious and immediate risk to public safety,” the judge wrote.

He was similarly direct about fentanyl, describing the opioid as having “devastating consequences” in communities across Ontario, noting its potency and the danger created when fentanyl makes its way into other illicit drugs, including cocaine.

“Those who engage in the distribution of such substances contribute directly to that harm, whether or not they are involved in the ultimate consumption of the drug,” Mew wrote.

There were significant aggravating factors.

Jajua had previously been convicted of manslaughter and served a federal penitentiary sentence. His criminal record also included robbery and drug trafficking offences.

He was under a weapons prohibition and other forms of community supervision when the Addington Highlands offences occurred.

Mew also found Jajua's motivation for trafficking drugs was financial.

“You took no account at all of the harm caused by the drugs that you were trafficking,” he wrote.

The Crown sought a global sentence of seven years.

The defence agreed Jajua had to return to the penitentiary, but argued that his personal circumstances justified a sentence below what the Crown was seeking.

It was there that Mew's decision moved beyond the circumstances of the Highway 7 collision and into Jajua's life before it.

From childhood in a war zone to Canada

Jajua was born in Sierra Leone and spent his early childhood there during the country's civil war.

Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war was marked by extraordinary violence against civilians, including widespread killings, mutilations, sexual violence, and the recruitment of children as soldiers, and it displaced nearly half of the country's population.

According to an Enhanced Pre-Sentence Report considered by the court, Jajua was primarily raised by his grandparents after his parents emigrated. He did not reunite with his mother until he was approximately 11.

Mew described an upbringing in which “violence, fear and uncertainty were pervasive features of your daily life.”

Jajua immigrated to Canada at 13. His transition was difficult: he experienced bullying, struggled in school, and had a strained relationship with his mother.

The report described a life affected by early trauma, instability, and the absence of consistent parental attachment, followed by poverty, marginalization, and systemic and socioeconomic barriers after coming to Canada.

As an adult, Jajua had largely worked in construction and renovation. However, the loss of his immigration status left him unable to obtain a valid work permit and significantly limited his ability to find lawful employment.

Mew accepted that those circumstances mattered.

‘Explain, although not justify’

The judge explained that sentencing is an individualized process in which courts must consider an offender's background when assessing moral blameworthiness.

Mew cited the Ontario Court of Appeal's decision in R. v. Morris, which confirmed that evidence of anti-Black racism and systemic disadvantage may be relevant to that assessment.

“These principles do not excuse criminal conduct,” Mew wrote. “Rather, they ensure that the sentence imposed is proportionate, having regard not only to the offence, but also to the circumstances of the offender.”

Mew found Jajua's experiences had left a lasting psychological impact.

“These factors are relevant to the assessment of moral blameworthiness,” he wrote. “They provide important context for understanding your life trajectory. They help to explain, although not justify, the choices you have made.”

Perhaps most notably, Mew accepted a direct connection between one of the barriers Jajua faced and the crime for which he was being sentenced.

“I also accept that your inability to obtain lawful employment due to your immigration status created financial pressures that contributed to your involvement in drug trafficking,” the judge wrote.

But Mew also drew a clear boundary around how far an offender's past can mitigate punishment.

“There are, however, limits to the extent to which these considerations can mitigate sentence,” he said. “They cannot overshadow the seriousness of the offences or your history of criminal conduct.”

Jajua is now in his mid-30s and has already served a significant custodial sentence. Despite that experience, Mew noted, he reoffended in circumstances involving both a firearm and dangerous drugs.

His record demonstrated that previous interventions had not deterred him, the judge found.

“In these circumstances, denunciation and deterrence must be given primary weight,” Mew wrote.

Still, Jajua's background mattered to the final result.

Mew concluded the systemic and personal factors outlined in the Enhanced Pre-Sentence Report warranted “some reduction” from the sentence that would otherwise have been appropriate.

Six and a half years

Mew sentenced Jajua to three years for occupying the vehicle knowing a firearm was present. He imposed another three and a half years for possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, to be served consecutively. Jajua also received three and a half years for trafficking fentanyl, concurrent with the cocaine sentence, and one year for breaching the weapons prohibition, also concurrent.

The result was a global sentence of six and a half years — six months less than the Crown had sought. After enhanced credit for the time he had already spent in custody, Jajua was left with 1,032 days, or approximately two years and 10 months, to serve.

Mew also imposed a lifetime weapons prohibition, a DNA order and a forfeiture order.

The sentencing hearing took place in Kingston on May 21, 2026, with Mew delivering his decision orally on June 26. The written reasons were subsequently amended on July 14, 2026 to correct calculations relating to Jajua's pre-sentence custody credit.