By Heather Lyn Evanson Barbados Nation
The lawyer for convicted Guyanese drug traffickers, Christopher Andrew Bacchus and his wife Dianne, wants the Barbados court to give them suspended sentences for their part in an elaborate drug smuggling operation four years ago.
Failing that, attorney-at-law Vonda Pile said, if the court were considering a custodial sentence, then that jail time should be so short as to allow the two to return to society and rebuild their reputations and business.
Pile was speaking during the mitigation phase of the sentencing process when six convicted Guyanese drug traffickers returned to court yesterday.
Lemme Michael Campbell, 45 and his wife Somwattie Persaud, 40, both of 106 New Garden Street, Georgetown; Bacchus, 43, and his wife Dianne, 37, both of Bay Gardens, Bayland, St Michael; Wayne Gavin Green, 38, of North Ruimveldt, Georgetown and Bridgefield, St Thomas; and Rohan Shastri Rambarran, a 43-year-old businessman of Georgetown, were convicted 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 convicted of importing both cannabis and cocaine on November 29, 2005.
Justice Kaye Goodridge, who presided in the No. 5 Supreme Court, adjourned the matter until today when defence attorneys continue their mitigation.
The defence attorney said there was a range of sentencing options available to the court – incarceration, fines or suspended sentences.
“I am asking that out of a varied number of things that the court can do to Bacchus, a custodial sentence is not applicable where Bacchus is concerned,” she said.
In addition, Pile said Dianne Bacchus was no hardened criminal and should also benefit from a suspended sentence.
She asked the court to consider that the two had spent from 2005 to date on remand; that they had no convictions here and that their pre-sentencing reports said they were hard-working individuals who were held in high esteem by friends and business associates.
“This matter has taken a lot out of [Christopher Bacchus] and prison life has taken a toll on Dianne,” said Pile. “Yes, Christopher Bacchus has accepted the decision of the jury even though he had maintained his innocence.
“In addition, if Dianne Bacchus is guilty of anything, it’s that she chose the wrong friend,” Pile said in reference to Dianne Bacchus’ testimony that she blamed Lemme Campbell for their arrest and subsequent incarceration.
Christopher Bacchus who made a statement in court yesterday said that he and his wife had lost everything.
Their reputations, their characters, their self esteem and their good nature are gone as a result of being betrayed by someone whom they thought was their friend.
Begging for leniency and mercy Bacchus, who lived at Bay Gardens, Bayland, St Michael, said he and his wife had been married for 18 years and had never been charged with any offence.
“Lemme asked me and my wife to keep some wood in our yard. I never thought someone would come into our lives, someone we trusted and treated as family would do this to us. We was never aware that Lemme was dealing with illegal drugs,” Bacchus said.
“We lost everything, we lost our character, we lost our self-esteem and we lost our good nature,” he said.
The convicted drug trafficker further told the court neither his wife nor he had come to Barbados to “disrespect Barbadian laws and society. All we does is work.”
Meanwhile attorney-at-law Vincent Watson, who mitigated on behalf of Gavin Green, also pointed to the time Green spent on remand, his hitherto clean record and reports that he was a hard-working and skilled tradesman.
“I’m asking the court to consider the prospects of rehabilitation,” said Watson.
“We are asking the court, we are begging the court to weigh the mitigating circumstances and I’m suggesting that incarceration should not be an option,” he said.
When the matter continues today, lawyers for Rambarran and Queen’s Counsel Ralph Thorne and Arthur Holder, who are representing Campbell and Persaud, will mitigate.
The matter was prosecuted by Director of Public Prosecutions Charles Leacock, QC, Principal Crown Counsel Anthony Blackman and Principal Crown Counsel Wanda Blair.