A 12-year-old boy was yesterday charged with trafficking in narcotics and placed on $10,000 bail when he appeared before Magistrate Ann McLennon at the Christiansburg Magistrate’s Court.
A release from the police said that the child, who was found with 20 grammes of marijuana in his possession while at a Linden secondary school, pleaded not guilty to the charge and was released into the custody of his mother and is required to report to the police and the probation officer on specified days of the week until his August 4th court date.
According to the release, the child was picked up on June 7th and originally stated that his mother had given him the drugs to give to his father. Because of the initial reluctance by the parents to report to the Wisroc Police Outpost so that a statement could be taken there was a delay in the investigations. The release said it was only during the evening of June 9 that his statement was taken in the presence of his mother.
The police said that lawmen at the station on recognizing that the 72-hour maximum for which a person could be detained without being charged would have expired the following day, should have gone to the court and applied for an extension.
“The police force considers this a serious breach of the constitutional rights of the individual and the Police Standing Orders. The Police Office of Professional Responsibility has launched an investigation into this matter and condign action will be taken against any rank found culpable,” the release said.