Three men and a woman who were caught with marijuana in their possession over the weekend, were fined today by Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant when they appeared in separate cases before the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court.
First up was Andel Hillary Garven Joseph, 25, of Ashby Alley, The City.
He was sitting and smoking in the company of a group of men when police approached him at Beckwith Street on Saturday.
The group dispersed and after Joseph was searched by police, 22 small Ziploc bags with marijuana, weighing 4.77 grams, were found in his pocket. He was fined $750 forthwith, with an alternative of three months in prison.
Corey Dion Hackett, 29, of No. 20 Husbands Development, St Michael, also pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of cannabis. He was found with 13.7 grams of the illegal drug in a plastic bag which he threw over a fence after he saw a police van.
He also jumped off his bicycle and started running. The weed was retrieved by police. He too was fined $750 forthwith, with an alternative of three months in prison.
In his turn in the dock, Romario Kemar Browne, 26, of Airy Hill, St George, pleaded guilty to three drug charges; that on Sunday he had 34 wrappings of marijuana and had a traffickable quantity which he intended to sell.
The court heard that police on patrol passed by three men who were sitting smoking a substance. As they got closer, Browne ran off and as he crossed over to Bay Street, a phial fell from his pocket.
He was eventually caught and returned to where the phial had dropped. He admitted the marijuana was his.
Magistrate Cuffy-Sargeant fined him $750 forthwith on each count of possession and having a traffickable amount of the drug. He was reprimanded and discharged for intent to supply.
Lastly, Shida Sandora Gilkes, 28, of 2nd Avenue Beckles Hill, St Michael was seen by police rolling a paper wrapping at Browne’s Beach on Saturday. The wrapping contained one gram of marijuana. She was fined $750, given one month to pay or she will have to spend three months in prison.
Apart from Gilkes, the other first-time offenders paid their fines forthwith.