A prison officer is now among the inmates he once guarded after being jailed yesterday for smuggling cigarettes and a SIM card into the Georgetown Prison.
Although Seon Paul, of Bent Street, Georgetown, admitted to taking the contraband into the prison, he denied another charge that he also attempted to smuggle marijuana into the facility.
Paul cried out of frustration during his arraignment at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, where he admitted that he was not sure what to do and begged for advice.
It was alleged that on January 12, 2015, at the Georgetown Prison, Paul conveyed eight packets of Bristol cigarettes and a Digicel SIM card, all prohibited articles, into the prison.
Several inmates were charged during the past year with ganja possession and trafficking, raising concerns about the collusion of prison guards.
It is also alleged that he also had in his possession 30 grammes of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking.
Paul, who has been a prison officer for over a year, pleaded guilty to the charge of having prohibited articles at the prison and was sentenced to six months in jail.
However, he pleaded not guilty to the possession for trafficking charge.
Police Prosecutor Bharat Mangru told Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry that a police officer searched Paul and found a packet of the cigarettes in one of his pants pockets, another in a shirt pocket and six others concealed in his crotch.
The cannabis, Mangru added, was found in a transparent plastic bag in one of Paul’s shirt pockets.
However, the unrepresented Paul told the court, “Your honour, I only had two packs of cigarettes not eight and I asking for reasonable bail. I got two children to look after.”
After he expressed his frustration, the magistrate asked if any lawyer was available at the time but no one was.
Paul cried and told the court that he was competing with others who were taking prohibited articles in prison.
But the magistrate told him not because someone is doing something means it is the right thing and should be emulated.
Paul was eventually remanded for the possession of cannabis and he is to make his next court appearance on January 29.
