Man on disability pension to pay for importing cannabis

A man on disability pension has been sentenced to pay the court $15 000 in one year or spend the same amount of time in Dodds Prison after pleading guilty to several cannabis-related charges.

Appearing before Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes on Monday, 55-year-old Roger Wendell Haynes of Lot A, Three Houses, St Philip admitted to importing and trafficking 6.85 kilogrammes of the drug with an estimated street value of $54 800, on December 15, 2023.

He also pleaded guilty to possession, trafficking and intent to supply 22 grammes of the drug, valued at $110, and to the possession of apparatus intended for the use of marijuana on the same day.

The District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court heard that Haynes had made arrangements to ship a barrel into Barbados, and on December 14, 2023, went to the shipping agency and paid to clear it. The next day, the barrel was examined by customs personnel and seven vacuum-sealed packages were found. Police were summoned.

Later that day, police carried out a search at Haynes’ home where they found two jars and a white pan containing cannabis in his bathroom and one jar and a cigarette pack with the drug in his bedroom wardrobe.

He told police, “I know bout the drugs. Dem is mine. Dem is marijuana.”

Haynes, who had no previous convictions, was reprimanded and discharged on the counts other than importation for which Magistrate Weekes slapped him with a $15 000 fine.

Explaining to the court that he was on disability pension, he asked the court to extend the time for him to pay the money.

“Importation into the country, especially at a time when people are bringing in much-needed food and other items, is a distraction and more hard work for the customs officials, unnecessarily so. Sir, you are receiving a pension from the state, which concerns me…. I do not know what would have prompted you, after the state has sacrificed . . . to want to even contemplate bringing in drugs to the place. I will tell you that it is because of your disability that the court will take the position of extending the usual time it gives to pay this fine,” the judge said, while warning Haynes to find legal means to pay the fee.