Magistrate Fazil Azeez yesterday fined a labourer $10,000 with an alternative of three months imprisonment after he admitted to having a quantity of narcotics in his possession.
Ramgopaul Lall, 36, of West Meten-Meer-Zorg, had in his possession three grammes of cannabis on Saturday last at Meten-Meer-Zorg. Police found the narcotic, when, acting on information, they stopped and searched him. The drug was found wrapped in a paper parcel.
Speaking in his own defence at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrate’s Court yesterday, Lall listed a number of medical problems that he is afflicted with and told the court that someone had told him to buy the cannabis.
Under questioning by the magistrate, the man he disclosed that he had drunk poison in the past, in an attempt to commit suicide. Lall begged the magistrate to let him go free swearing that he had never used the drug before.
He said, “me gat seven children, me a poor man sir” while promising not to do it “na mo na mo.” When the magistrate asked Lall if he had thought of his children’s welfare when he committed the offences he said he supposed that “they woulda ga fo beg.”
Lall’s wife also pleaded with the court on his behalf, saying that her husband was a “mental health case” and as a result he received public assistance.
