The trial into the alleged discovery of 284 1bs of cocaine at the Diamond Housing Scheme premises of Barry Dataram continued on Tuesday with 272 pieces of the narcotic being admitted into evidence.
Dataram, his common-law wife Anjanie Boodnarine, Kevin Charran, and Trevor Gouveia, are currently on trial for possession of the cocaine for trafficking.
During Tuesday’s proceedings before Magistrate Judy Latchman, Customs Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) Officer Andrew Yarde continued his testimony, which led to the 272 pieces of cocaine being admitted into evidence after the request was made by CANU Prosecutor Konyo Sandiford-Thompson.
Prior to being admitted into evidence the packages were counted by Yarde separately and verified by their markings which he stated he made.
The markings on the box that held the various packages were also verified by the defence and also counted by them separately.
There were 92 pieces of cocaine in one box and 180 in another box.
Prior to the continuation of Yarde’s testimony, Dataram requested that another date be granted given the fact that their attorney Glenn Hanoman was not present and he was unware of his whereabouts.
Consideration was granted by the magistrate and the matter was stood down for a few minutes. However, when court resumed, Hanoman did not appear and the court heard that that the magistrate’s clerk made efforts to contact him but was unsuccessful.
A subsequent request for an adjournment to a further date was not granted by the magistrate who stated that the matter would continue adding that the court received no notice that Hanoman would be absent.
The matter was later adjourned to June 27.
It is alleged that on April 16, 2015 at Lot 661 Silver Dam, Fourth Avenue, Diamond Housing Scheme, the defendants had 129.230 kilogrammes of cocaine (equivalent to 284 pounds) for the purpose of trafficking.
