Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton yesterday ordered that Andrew Orgista of East Ruimveldt be remanded to prison when he appeared before her at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court for allegedly being found with a quantity of cocaine and cannabis in a haversack he was carrying at an interior location.
The 23-year-old father of two pleaded not guilty to the charges of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking and possession of narcotics.
He denied that on May 30, at Apaikwa Landing, Mazaruni River, he had 5.5 grammes of cocaine in his possession for the purpose of trafficking and 5.5 grammes of cannabis also in his possession.
His lawyer Sonia Parag applied for reasonable bail for him stating that her client is the sole breadwinner of his family.
She said that there were special circumstances for her client to be granted bail since several of his friends were standing at Apaikwa Landing when the police approached them and spotted a bag almost five feet away from them. She said that the police then retrieved the bag and upon searching it found the cocaine and cannabis.
The lawyer noted that not only was her client unaware of the contents of the bag but any one of his friends had access to the bag and could have placed the narcotics in it.
However, Prosecutor Shellon Daniels objected to the bail application on the grounds that Orgista has another matter of a similar nature pending against him at the Bartica Magistrate’s Court and that case is scheduled for another hearing sometime next week.
She noted that it was while on bail for that matter that Orgista allegedly committed the current offences. The prosecutor also noted that her facts of the case differed from that of the defence. She said that according to the police statement, on the day in question the police were conducting a routine search in the area when Orgista spotted them and attempted to flee. The police gave chase and subsequently found him hiding between several cassava plants.
The prosecutor then told the court that Orgista identified himself to the police and they conducted a search on the haversack that he was wearing at the time and discovered the cocaine and cannabis wrapped in a plastic bag inside.
He was then told of the offence, arrested and later charged.
The magistrate then ordered that the matter be transferred to the Bartica Magistrate’s Court for June 9.
