A man who took ownership of cannabis, which he claimed his Rastafarian relatives might have left in his yard, was yesterday fined $5,000 along with six weeks of community service, when he appeared before Magistrate Alan Wilson at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
On February 8, at Robb Street, Jason Fraser was found with two grammes of cannabis.
Police Prosecutor Kerry Bostwick told the court that on the day in question at around 15:20 hrs, the police acting on information went to a house on Robb Street. As they arrived, Fraser was seen running to the back of the house.
Bostwick said he was pursued and was observed throwing away something in a transparent plastic bag. He said Fraser was apprehended and the plastic bag retrieved. Leaves, seeds and stems suspected to be cannabis were found inside the bag.
Fraser, when given a chance to speak, told the court that he did not run from the police. He said the police entered the yard and started to search. He said that they searched him and found nothing.
He said that they found the substance in the yard and he took ownership of it, since he was the only person in the yard at the time.
Fraser said most of his relatives are Rastafarians and there was the possibility that one of them left it there.
He was then asked by the magistrate why he took ownership of something that was not his.
The young man responded that the police had started to harass him.
He was fined $5,000 along with six weeks of community service.
