-Guyanese man also ensnared
Three Jamaicans and a Guyanese yesterday appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton charged with trafficking in narcotics. They all pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Marlon Brown, Jeffrey Edwards and Delroy Johnson, all Jamaican nationals were charged along with Gerald Powell with having 959 grammes of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking in their possession.
The four defendants all pleaded not guilty and are being represented by attorney Adrian Thompson. In establishing special reasons for bail, Thompson said that the alleged narcotic was found by CANU officials in the absence of the defendants.
Further, he added that there were nine persons at the said address however five of them were released and the remaining four, now defendants, were charged. He said that Powell, 43, of 106 C Field, Sophia, was being held because he rented the premises where the narcotics were found. Powell was allegedly at the airport at the time of the search and arrived at the house after CANU officials would have conducted their search.
Brown, 27, had been here for six days while Edwards, 45, had been here for two weeks and Johnson, 43, had been in the country for thirteen days. They have no fixed place of abode and gave their address as the Sherriff Hotel. Thompson said that CANU officials took them to search their hotel room but nothing was found there.
Special Prosecutor Oswald Massiah objected to the granting of bail. He said that Powell’s address differs from the one he gave the court. His stated address is 59 Light Street, Alberttown and not Sophia. In fact he was the tenant at the Alberttown address and on the day that CANU visited the said premises it was to be his last day of occupancy.
The Jamaicans, according to Massiah, claimed to have travelled to Guyana to view a horse-racing meet, however they were never there. It was found that the trio were actually guests of Powell.
Massiah said that the facts presented by the defendants differ from the actual events. He said that on March 30 a team of CANU officers went to the Alberttown address and met all four defendants there. A search was conducted and the alleged substance was found in the drawing room of the house. Additionally, the defendants’ passports and luggage were found at the same address.
Bail was then refused. The four are due to make their next appearance in court on April 20.
