A labourer who took 13 grammes of cannabis and 12 packs of cigarettes into the Camp Street Prison was yesterday sentenced to a three-year jail term by acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.
At the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, Patrick Mc Klein pleaded guilty to the possession of the drugs and taking the prohibited substances into the jail, while explaining that he was paid by a woman to get the items into the facility.
No account of what transpired on the day in question was presented to the court by the prosecution.
However, when given a chance to explain to the court what had transpired, McKlein said that a woman who was in the vicinity of the prison gave him the prohibited items and requested that he take them into the facility. “I was very hungry and after the woman tell me that she gon’ give me money if I take the things into the prison for her… she tell me that she will offer me $1,000 to take the things into the prison but I tell she that I can’t do that. She then tell me that she gon’ give me $2,000 and I agreed. But me neva know what was in the bag at the time,” he said.
McKlein added that while he was throwing the bag with the items over the prison wall, the prison officer noticed him and he was subsequently arrested.
The magistrate took into consideration the seriousness of the offences during sentencing. In the addition to the jail sentence, McKlein was fined $30,000.
