Clothes vendor denied bail on ganja charge

A clothing vendor was on Friday remanded to prison for allegedly having a quantity of cannabis in her possession.

Michelle Fernandes pleaded not guilty to the charge when she was arraigned before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court. It was alleged that on October 3 at West La Penitence,

Fernandes had 78.4 grammes of cannabis in her possession for the purpose of trafficking.

The police’s facts given by Prosecutor Bharat Mangru stated that on October 3, police narcotics ranks acting on information went to Fernandes’ Lot 14 West La Penitence home to conduct a search. He said that upon the arrival of the police, Fernandes was observed throwing a black plastic bag over the fence at the back of her yard.

Mangru said she then went inside her house, changed her clothing and attended to police officers. Police officers, Mangru said, then checked behind the fence, where they recovered the black plastic bag she was seen throwing over the fence. In this bag, Mangru said, there were 86 Ziploc bags containing leaves, seeds and stems suspected to be cannabis.

She was subsequently informed of the offence to which she denied having any knowledge of and was arrested and charged.

He objected to bail based on the seriousness of the offence and stated that no special reasons were provided by Fernandes.

The matter was subsequently transferred to Court 3, where Magistrate Judy Latchman denied bail.

Fernandes returns to court tomorrow at Court 3.