A Jamaican man accused of trafficking in a quantity of cocaine by attempting to mail it out of Guyana in postcards was yesterday remanded to prison when he appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
Additionally, he was arraigned on a charge of overstaying his time in Guyana.
The allegation against Lloyd Fairweather is that on January 9 at the FedEx Courier Service, Barr Street, Kingston, Georgetown; he had in his possession in excess of two grams of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
It is also alleged that Fairweather overstayed his time in Guyana from October 20, 2007 to January 9, 2012.
The 44-year-old man denied both charges when they were read to him.
When the matter was initially called, the Jamaican made a successful request of the court to afford him the opportunity of first consulting with an attorney to seek advice, stating that he was not fully aware of what was happening.
Fairweather explained that he had already retained counsel for legal advice but the lawyer would have been a bit late.
Sometime later, attorney-at-law Adrian Thompson entered an appearance on behalf of the accused.
In his address to the court, Thompson said that his client had been visiting the Ministry of Home Affairs back and forth and was of the view that his permit to stay in Guyana had been granted.
Counsel said that his client initially came to Guyana to visit his girlfriend with whom he now resides at Prince William Street, Plaisance, but later he decided to remain here with her.
This, Thompson said, caused his client to seek a permit from the Ministry of Home Affairs to remain and he was of the view that it was granted.
In presenting its case, the prosecution related to the court that on January 9 at 10:20 am, police acting on information received went to the Barr Street, Kingston location where the accused was nabbed with more than two grams of cocaine.
Police Sergeant Lionel Harvey, who presented the prosecution facts, said that based on suspicion, the ranks conducted a search on the defendant when two cards he had in his possession were found with the illegal substance concealed inside.
The court then heard that further checks of the defendant unearthed his passport which indicated that he had overstayed his time in Guyana.
The prosecution objected to the accused being granted his pretrial liberty stating that no special circumstances had been advanced regarding the narcotics trafficking charge and that if granted bail on the other, the accused might flee the jurisdiction and not return to stand trial.
After listening to both the prosecution and defence, the magistrate said that taking all the circumstances into consideration, the defendant would be remanded to prison. His matter was transferred to Court Six for report and fixture on January 26.
