Two men who were allegedly found with a quantity of cannabis in their possession were both granted bail while another drug accused was remanded to prison yesterday when they appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

Forty-three-year-old Ron John of 111 Enterprise Gardens, East Coast Demerara and Patrick Bailey, 29, a fireman of 21 Republic Drive, Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara pleaded not guilty to the charge of possession of narcotics, while Augustin Cupertino of Rupununi pleaded guilty to the same charge.
It is alleged that on November 10, John was found with four grammes of cannabis in his possession while Bailey on the same day was found with two grammes of cannabis.

On November 9 in the Rupununi area, Cupertino was allegedly found with 10 grammes of cannabis in his pants pocket.

Defence counsel James Bond representing John and Bailey applied for bail on their behalf.
He stated that in Bailey’s case the reason he was brought before the court by the police was because he had objected to the way in which they had dealt with a few of his acquaintances. Bond stated that the police had fired three shots at Bailey’s acquaintances and one of them was kicked about his body, much to Bailey’s displeasure.

Meanwhile Prosecutor Desiree Fowler stated that about 05:30 hours, a party of police on foot patrol in the Rupununi area observed Cupertino riding a bicycle. A policeman stopped him and a search was conducted on his person when police discovered a white plastic bag containing a quantity of leaves, seeds and stems, suspected to be cannabis in his right-side pants pocket. Cupertino was arrested and taken to the police station where the items in the bag were confirmed to be 10 grammes of cannabis.

Yesterday Cupertino begged to be allowed to do community service, “gimme a lil wuk in de compound nah?”

The magistrate subsequently granted John and Bailey bail in the sum of $15,000 each and ordered that they return to court on March 25 next year.
However, she remanded Cupertino to prison and ordered that he return to court on November 18.