Four persons, including a businesswoman, were yesterday refused bail after they were charged with trafficking in marijuana, which police said was found among their belongings when they and other travellers bound for Mahdia were stopped and searched.
Fay Jones, 37, of Mahdia, and David Cole of La Parfaite Harmonie were charged jointly for having 850 grammes of cannabis in their possession on May 22 at Mackenzie, Linden. Winston Scotland, a miner was charged separately with having 134 grammes and Jeffrey Thomas, 27, of Lot 209 East La Penitence was also charged separately with having 65 grammes of cannabis at the same place and on the same date.
All four defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges when they appeared before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry yesterday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court 1.
The prosecution’s case is that police made the discovery after they directed the Route 73 minibus in which the four were travelling to go to the Mackenzie Police Station, where all the passengers were searched. Jones and Cole had a salt bag and Scotland and Thomas each had haversacks from which police allegedly retrieved the cannabis. However, Jones’s attorney, Gordon Gilhuys, told the court that after the search was conducted, everyone on the bus claimed that the alleged illegal substance belonged to her. The other three defendants were unrepresented.
The magistrate ordered that the files for the charges pertaining to Jones and Cole as well as Thomas be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions for advice and they were ordered to return to court tomorrow, while Scotland was remanded to prison until June 2, when his charge will be heard at the Linden Magistrate’s Court.
