Ganja courier pleads for mercy, jailed for three years

A young man who agreed to courier ganja into the interior yesterday found himself begging for mercy before being told that he would imprisoned for three years.

Jermaine Dowridge, 19, was also fined $30,000 after he pleaded guilty to a charge of having 295 grammes of cannabis in his possession for the purpose of trafficking.

“My Worship, I am begging for mercy. A man ask me to drop the bag and he said he will pay my passage since I was going to the bush,” said Dowridge before his sentencing by Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

The court heard from Prosecutor Michael Grant that at about midday on September 29, 2014, at Cuyuni, Essequibo, police were on duty when they saw Dowridge acting in a suspicious manner and decided to stop him and conduct a search. Upon searching him, they found a bag he had in his possession that was contained leaves, seeds and stems suspected to be cannabis.

Dowridge was arrested as a result.