Jailed for breaking 24-hr curfew and drug possession

Being outdoors in the wee hours of this morning with more than $500 worth of cocaine and marijuana in his pocket, a 44-year-old painter thought his best course of action on seeing police was to flee.

That run was short lived.

Sergeant Vernon Waithe said police were on a patrol along Dodds Land, Black Rock, St Michael around 12:30 a.m., when they saw Curtis Harold Hinkson, of 1 B Ocean Road, Deacons Farm, St Michael,  sitting by himself. When he noticed police he fled, all the while holding his pocket. Police pursued and apprehended him.

In his pocket was an Ensure bottle with nine plastic bags containing vegetable matter and a plastic bag with three vials with a crystalized substance suspected to be cocaine, along with two other bags with the same substance.

Hinkson admitted knowledge and ownership of the cocaine, which weighed 26. 5 grammes worth $265 and the 51.8 grammes of cannabis, which had an estimated street value of $260.

When asked the reason for being outside at that time, Hinkson responded: “I just liming officer.”

Today he appeared before Magistrate Wayne Clarke in the No. 1 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court and pleaded guilty to breaching the national 24-hour curfew, without a reasonable excuse, which was imposed on April 3 until April 14 . He also admitted to possession, possession with intent to supply and having a trafficable quantity of cocaine and cannabis on April 11.

The convicted man asked the magistrate for a chance saying that he had a 13-year-old son to support.

“What example are you setting by selling drugs?” the magistrate queried before he sentenced Hinkson to six months at Dodds prison for breaching the curfew.

He was also sentenced to six months in prison for the possession and traffic charges for each drug but those sentences will run concurrently to the curfew conviction. He was convicted, reprimanded and discharged on the other offences. (FW)