It has been more than two months since Stratford police charged alleged fentanyl dealer Terry Collins with manslaughter in relation to the overdose death of a 48-year-old Stratford man last December, yet lawyers still haven’t settled on a date for his bail hearing.On Monday, Collins, 54, made his fourth appearance by video in Stratford bail court – his fifth court appearance in total. Collins briefly spoke with duty counsel Raymond Warman before Warman, acting on instructions from Collins’ lawyer, Laura Joy of Windsor, asked justice of the peace Sharon Roberson for an adjournment until Aug. 9 to schedule a judicial pretrial.Roberson agreed to the adjournment without addressing the bail hearing and told Collins, still in custody, that he will once again appear in bail court by video.Collins, who is also facing a drug-trafficking charge, was arrested May 24 at the conclusion of a five-month investigation that began after a Stratford man died on Dec. 21, 2018. Police said the man and a 33-year-old woman both went unconscious after ingesting a drug called “down” on the streets.The woman was revived with the overdose antidote naloxone, but the man never recovered, police said.Stratford police, with input from the Perth County Crown attorney’s office, laid the manslaughter charge, alleging the accused “ought to have known that trafficking in fentanyl is a dangerous act likely to cause death to a person.”It’s a relatively new approach for Southwestern Ontario law enforcement officials, who are trying to cope with a growing regional opioid epidemic. Convictions of opioid-related deaths have incurred harsher penalties in recent years, with a Superior Court judge in Woodstock calling fentanyl the most dangerous drug currently on the streets.With files from Terry Bridge, Stratford Beacon Heraldgsimmons@postmedia.com
