Drug addict to be assessed

A 39-year-old man was transferred from Dodds to the Psychiatric Hospital today after asking for help with his drug addiction.

Devon Mario Sampson, of no fixed place of abode, recently pleaded guilty to having apparatus in his possession on December 7 that was fit for the misuse of cocaine.

He has been on remand at the St Philip institution awaiting his sentence.

When he reappeared before Magistrate Douglas Fredrick today he was sent to the Black Rock mental health institution where doctors will assess him and present a report to the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on his suitability for a drug rehabilitation programme.

According to the facts police were on patrol along Marshall Street, New Orleans, St Michael about at 8:55 p.m. on the date in question when they saw Sampson holding a suspicious-looking metal object in his hand.

“It’s my scrappers,” he allegedly told police when asked to account.

He then tried to conceal it but a search of the backpack he was carrying revealed a bottle with a burnt wire mesh at the bottom with white residue suspected to be cocaine.

“That is my . . . pipe, I does smoke my little thing wid,” he allegedly told lawmen at the time.

Today he explained to the magistrate that he had a drug problem.

“Jail is a hard place. I think I learn a lesson up there,” he told the magistrate before asking for an opportunity to attend Verdun House.

Sampson reappears in court on January 25.