A miner was on Monday sentenced to three years in jail at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, after he admitted to having a quantity of cocaine and ganja in his possession.
Gordon Xavier told acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry that he had .6 grammes of cocaine and four grammes of cannabis in his possession on January 28, at Tabatinga, Rupununi, in Region Nine.
The court heard that ranks from Lethem police station were on patrol duty in the Tabatinga area, when they observed Xavier in a yard. When an officer approached the man, he attempted to escape. Ranks then conducted a search on his person and a quantity of seeds, leaves and stems, suspected to be cannabis, was discovered in his underpants. Xavier was later taken to the police station, where the suspected narcotics were weighed in his presence.
When given a chance to address the court, Xavier pleaded for leniency. He then said, “I plead guilty but I didn’t had it in my possession… I just purchased one joint of marijuana. I went to buy the marijuana because I does smoke.
The pusher man who sell me it ran away when he see the police coming, de (police) tek me to the police station but the pusher man had a lot of money on he, so de police dem tell he that, ‘We gonna talk to you just now…’”
Afterward, Magistrate Sewnarine-Beharry pointed out the seriousness of the offence and, in addition to the jail sentence, imposed a $30,000 fine on Xavier for the cocaine possession and a $3,000 fine and six months community service for the marijuana possession.
