Caleb Caesar, who it is alleged conspired to smuggle cocaine hidden in wiri wiri peppers out of the country, was committed to stand trial in the High Court yesterday after a city magistrate found that a prima facie case had been made out against him.
Caesar declined to give a statement after the ruling was made by Magistrate Judy Latchman and chose not to call any witnesses to the stand. He will remain on remand until his trial’s commencement.
Prosecutor Vishnu Hunte, in his closing arguments yesterday, asked that the court find that the accused had knowledge, possession and control of the narcotics. He also made reference to a statement allegedly given by Caesar, in which he stated that he knew there was cocaine in the peppers and that and that two of his colleagues were “putting the cocaine in condoms” and “wrapped them like wiri wiri peppers.”
In Caesar’s closing arguments, he stated that the prosecution’s witnesses had presented conflicting evidence. He also spoke on the nature of the charge—possession for trafficking purposes—stating that no narcotics were found in his possession and he also questioned why he was arrested one year later for the offence.
Caesar was charged in December of 2014 with conspiring with persons to traffic a quantity of narcotics between April 1 and April 26, 2013, at William Street, Kitty. He was not required to plead to the indictable charge.
In June of that year, he was arraigned before the court on a charge stating that between April 1 and August 13, 2013, at the Kingston Seawall, Georgetown, he conspired with Hadrick Cummings to traffic 15.55 kilogrammes of cocaine. The cocaine was said to be disguised in boxes containing okra.
Cummings had pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to five years in prison, and ordered to pay a fine of $40.5M.
