Community service for first-timer

A teenager will have just over two months to complete 180 hours of community service if he is to keep a clean record.

Rachad Omar Holder, 18, of Foster Hall, St John, was given the opportunity by Magistrate Douglas Frederick after pleading guilty to two charges when he appeared in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ court today.

Holder pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis as well as having an offensive weapon in his possession on January 6, 2019, while in Independence Square, the City.

In giving the facts, prosecutor police constable Kevin Forde revealed police were on duty in the area having responded to a report of a disturbance within the vicinity.

While controlling the crowd and dispersing members of the public, police saw Holder and another man walking towards Pirates Cove and observed what appeared to be a knife in Holder’s pants’ pocket.

He was stopped and searched and one brown-handled knife was found.

When asked to account for it he told police, “I get beat up yesterday and I got it to protect me.”

A further search of his right pants’ pocket turned up a transparent bag containing what appeared to be vegetable matter.

However, he told police he had found the illegal drugs in a bush.

The drugs weighed 14 grams and had a street value of $80.

Magistrate Frederick ordered the first-time offender to complete 180 hours of community service before March 29, 2019, when Holder is scheduled to reappear in court.