“I stand by my innocence,” Guyanese drug trafficker Wayne Gavin Green said when he and his five convicted compatriots appeared before the No 3 Supreme Court in Barbados yesterday morning.
According to a report from the Barbados Nation, Justice Kaye Goodridge yesterday also heard from three character witnesses for two other convicts, and eventually put down the matter for sentencing on September 22.
Green, 38, of North Ruimveldt, Georgetown; Lemme Michael Campbell, 45, and his wife Somwattie Persaud, 40, both of 106 New Garden Street, Georgetown; Christopher Bacchus, 43, and his wife Dianne Bacchus, 37, both of Bay Gardens, Bayland, St Michael and Bridgefield, St Thomas; and Rohan Shastri Rambarran, 43, a businessman of George-town, were convicted on June 4, of possession and trafficking in 91.3 kilos of cannabis and 119.4 kilos of cocaine on November 30, 2005. Campbell and Rambarran were also found guilty of importing both cannabis and cocaine on November 29, 2005.
Campbell, Persaud, the Bacchuses and Rambarran opted to let their attorneys speak for them but Green told the court: “I stand by my innocence,” before he, too, said he wanted his lawyer to speak on his behalf.
Sir Richard Cheltenham, QC, and Shelly-Ann Seecharan who appeared for Rambarran; Vonda Pile for the Bacchuses; Vincent Watson and Desmond Sands for Green and Ralph Thorne, QC, and Arthur Holder representing Campbell and Persaud, six then asked for pre-sentencing reports, and their requests were granted by Justice Goodridge.
Earlier, the court had heard from three character witnesses for the Bacchuses. Gregory and Margaret Hallett described the couple as loving and hard-working.
The Halletts said they met the Bacchuses in 2002 when they were out crusading as part of their Seventh Day Adventist outreach programme.
However, Gregory Hallett admitted, when cross-examined by Principal Crown Counsel Anthony Blackman, that he knew nothing about the Bacchuses’ social life.
Also testifying on behalf of the Bacchuses was Hugh Rock who said he has known them for the past ten or 12 years and they were hard-working, trustworthy and honest.
When cross-examined by Director of Public Prosecutions Charles Leacock, QC, Rock said: “I don’t know nothing ‘bout them importing lumber or exporting lumber.”
The six Guyanese, who had been on remand at HMP Dodds since the June 4 guilty verdict, will return to court on September 22.
They had been charged with six counts of possession and trafficking in the cannabis and cocaine following a police raid at a house in Bay Gardens, St Michael. The police had received a tip and had begun surveillance at a construction site in Rowans Park, St George, where they saw a container of logs, which had arrived from Guyana, being offloaded. No one was held here; the police trailed a truck, onto which some of the logs were loaded, to a house at Bay Gardens, St Michael.
When they raided that house, they caught Campbell, Green, and Christopher Bacchus unpacking parcels from hollowed-out logs and the women packing those parcels into suitcases. Drugs were also on the kitchen table and by the back door. They then picked up Rambarran from the Hilton Barbados after Campbell called his name as the ring leader.
In addition to DPP Leacock, QC and Principal Crown Counsel Blackman, Principal Crown Counsel Wanda Blair also appeared for the prosecution.
