A carpenter was yesterday fined $20,000 and ordered to perform four weeks community service after being found with one gramme of cannabis.
If he fails to pay the fine or do the community service, Doodnauth Danraj, 30, will be imprisoned for six months, city magistrate Ann McLennan ruled.
Danraj accepted that on August 4, at Leguan Island, Essequibo, he had a gramme of cannabis in his possession.
When given a chance to speak, the Maryville, Leguan man offered no response.
The prosecution’s facts are that on the day in question, at about 12pm, police on a mobile patrol at Maryville Public Road observed the defendant acting in a suspicious manner.
The court heard that as the rank neared Danraj, he threw a brown paper parcel on to the ground. The rank subsequently picked up the parcel in the Danraj’s presence and found a quantity of leaves, seeds and stems, believed to be cannabis, concealed within.
It was later weighed and amounted to one gramme of cannabis.
Danraj was told of the allegation and subsequently arrested and charged.
