Despite denying knowing what a cannabis plant looks like, farmer Clarence St. Hill was yesterday remanded to prison after the police discovered 25 such plants on his farm.
Prosecutor Bharat Mangru, who presented the police’s case to the court, said that the plants, ranging from 2 to 4 feet in height, were found among some cassava crops when the police searched St. Hill’s farm, after receiving a tip off.
When he was later contacted, St. Hill is purported to have admitted the items were his and he was arrested and charged, Mangru continued.
However, counsel for the Aishalton, Rupununi resident, said his client admitted to farming there but not cultivating the cannabis plant.
The attorney said that St. Hill’s farm is part of an unfenced two-acre agricultural plot shared by different persons in the area and as such, any one could have planted the cannabis.
Counsel said too that his client does not know what a cannabis plant looks like and that this disproves the fact he had knowledge of the existence of the illegal plants on his farm.
Wrapping up his application for reasonable bail, the attorney asked the court to note that those circumstances amounted to special reasons for the offence.
But Prosecutor Mangru refuted this contention and objected to bail.
After hearing the case, Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry announced that St. Hill was remanded to prison.
The proceedings were adjourned to September 1, when the case will be recalled in the Lethem Magistrates’ Court.
