Prisoner Troy Younge, who is currently serving a three-year sentence for drug trafficking, will now be spending an additional five years behind bars after a court found him guilty of once more trafficking in narcotics and this time within the walls of the George-town Prison.
Younge was convicted for having in his possession 154 grammes of cannabis on November 9 for the purpose of trafficking while at the George-town Prison.
Younge, who appeared distressed at the verdict, begged for lenience after being informed by trial magistrate Judy Latchman that he had been found guilty.
“Please be lenient with me meh worship; and please for something that could wuk into meh current sentence,” the 49-year-old father of three begged.
The magistrate, who smiled momentarily, then proceeded to firmly reprimand Younge about the offence committed, while noting the strong message of deterrence which needs to be sent to potential offenders.
Magistrate Latchman told Younge that after considering his age and the fact that he trafficked the cannabis in prison while serving time for the same crime, he was being sentenced to 60 months in prison.
She also informed him that he was being fined $77,000 and made it clear that the sentence will begin after he would have completed serving his current prison sentence. She then sternly warned him, “Do not traffic again! Trafficking is not a nice thing, it’s a bad thing!”
The unrepresented Younge had fought vigorously but unsuccessfully to convince the court of his innocence.
The prosecution’s case was that a prison officer unearthed the marijuana in a Fruta bottle which Younge had in his possession.
Younge, however, refuted the testimony of a prison officer and police witness that he was found with the illegal substance in his hand. According to him, he was searched on the day in question by the prison officer, who found nothing of evidential value on his person. He went on to say that the officer subsequently ventured to the back gate of the prison compound and later returned with a Fruta juice bottle that was later confirmed to have contained cannabis and stated that it belonged to him.
The magistrate detailed in her ruling that during the trial the prosecution was able to discharge its burden of proof by substantiating that Younge had knowledge, custody, care and control of the illegal substance.
She said that his oral statement—“Officer, I find it at the back gate”— was found to have been given freely and voluntarily and was resultantly admitted as evidence in the case.
The case was heard at the Georgetown Magis-trates’ Court and was prosecuted by Inspector Joel Ricknauth.
