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Son of Canadian Diplomat Heads to Boot Camp After Plea Deal in Fatal Miami Drug Rip-Off

Marc Wabafiyebazu, 15, waited in the car last March as his older brother Jean went inside a Miami house. Then gunshots erupted inside, leaving Jean and a 17-year-old drug dealer dead.
Photo by Walter Michot/The Miami Herald via AP

The teenage son of a Canadian diplomat is headed to a military-style boot camp for his role in a botched marijuana rip-off that exploded in a gunfight in a Miami neighborhood last year, leaving his own brother and another teen dead.

Marc Wabafiyebazu, 15, accepted a plea deal on Friday that will see him enter a Miami-Dade jail boot camp, where cadets receive "behavior modification" courses, along with two years of house arrest and eight years of probation.

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He pled "no contest" to a reduced charge of third degree felony murder — although he never fired any shots — down from a charge of first degree felony murder, which carried a possible life sentence and no chance of parole.

"This is one of the most serious cases I've had in this division in a long time," the judge told the court, the Miami Herald reported.

His mother, Roxanne Dubé, said she had the Canadian government's blessing to remain in the United States as her son completes his sentence.

Related: Canadian Diplomat's Teen Son Denied Bail in Miami Drug Murder Case

Dubé was just weeks into her assignment as Canadian consul general in Miami when her two sons hatched a marijuana deal that would go horribly wrong in March of last year.

Police told the court that Wabafiyebazu and his 18-year-old brother Jean skipped school and drove their mother's BMW sedan, outfitted with consular license plates, to the apartment of a drug dealer, with a plan to steal more than $4,000 worth of weed.

Wabafiyebazu waited in the passenger seat of the car as his brother went inside. Then gunshots erupted inside, leaving Jean and 17-year-old drug dealer Joshua Wright dead.

Surveillance footage showed Wabafiyebazu running up the street after hearing the gunshots, then surrendering to police who arrived a short time later.

Prosecutors said Wabafiyebazu admitted to police that he was involved in planning the rip off, the Herald reported.

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Two other young drug dealers pleaded guilty to similar counts and entered the same boot camp last year.

R. Dube, Canadidan diplomat, says she had govt blessing to stay in US during son's probation. 'Supervision of my son is my only priority'

— David Ovalle (@DavidOvalle305)February 19, 2016

"Today, it's the mother who is the happiest in the world because I get to have my son back," Dubé told reporters, according to the Miami Herald. "I am very grateful for the State Attorney to see in Marc the potential to be able to make a contribution to society."

The case has received extensive attention in Canada, and has been especially jarring for Canadians who are not used to seeing so many details disclosed about a young offender. In Canada, the identity of anyone under the age of 18 who is charged with a crime is concealed, and access to court records is restricted. They also face lighter sentences.

According to a Herald reporter in the courtroom, the judge indicated on Friday that the conviction will not appear on Wabafiyebazu's criminal record, if he does well on probation.

"Go back to school," the judge told him.

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