A Brazilian citizen was charged with having a quantity of cocaine in his possession for the purpose of trafficking in the Rupununi and was placed on $50,000 bail by Magistrate Hazel Octave-Hamilton at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
Antonio Viera Silva, 47, was charged with having in his possession 1.5 grams of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking on May 15 at Central Rupununi.
The magistrate who proceeded to ask the man to enter a plea then realized that he could not speak English. She then asked the prosecutor why she was not informed that the man required an interpreter to translate what was being said to him in court. Magistrate Octave-Hamilton then asked the prosecutor to have a translator present in the court to translate for the man.
Through the translator the Brazilian then entered a plea of not guilty.
Silva’s attorney in his bail application said that his client who is a mechanic was on his way to Suriname at the time he was arrested. He also mentioned that the police are in possession of Silva’s passport and it is on these grounds that he was asking for bail to be granted.
Bail was then granted and the matter will continue on June 5.
