enior Magistrate Colin John has dismissed as “not the most credible” the explanation given by attorney Grant Connell as to how his St Lucian-born client came to have 22 kilograms of cocaine on a boat in Bequia on September 16.
“I don’t think someone would just throw 22 kilograms of cocaine on a boat and tell the persons to leave. That amount of cocaine is more than half a million dollars,” the magistrate said, adding “the explanation that was given to the court was not very believable.”
John said that the sentencing guidelines suggest that the defendant, Ezra Henry aka “Will”, should receive a non-custodial sentence.
He, however, noted that the guideline also permits the presiding judicial officer to depart from them in the interest of justice, adding that he also considered the totality principle in arriving at his sentence.
“I think this is a very serious offence. The amount of cocaine is significant,” John said.
“It is not a one-rock of or two spliffs of marijuana. It was 22 kilos of cocaine. We know the dangers of cocaine; we know the spill-offs of cocaine so sentencing must be reflective of society’s abhorrence to cocaine, cocaine trafficking and the ills that spill off if it.”
https://caribbean.loopnews.com/content/st-vincent-st-lucian-fined-jailed-over-cocaine-possession
