Drugs plants cost man $5,000

A 45-year-old man has to pay a steep price for cultivating 20 plants of marijuana in his backyard.

Mark Vernon Randolph Sealy, of Stratford Hill, Pinelands, St Michael must pay $5,000 in six months or spend time at Dodds.

The fine was imposed on him after he also pleaded guilty to charges of possession, possession with intent to supply and possession with intent to traffick the illegal drug.

Police executed a warrant as Sealy’s residence on May 13 and while searching a dresser, a Nescafe container was found with compressed cannabis.

“I does grow that weed to smoke it officer,” he reportedly told police. The substance weighed 62 grammes.

A further search led police to his backyard where cannabis plants ranging from two to eight feet in height and weighing eight pounds were discovered.

“That is my weed I plant them hey and I guilty,” he is reported to have said when asked to account for the illicit substance.

Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant reprimanded and discharged him on the possession charge, and convicted, reprimanded and discharged him on the supply and trafficking offences.

The fine was imposed on the cultivation charge which carries an 18-month prison sentence if left unpaid.

Sealy must return to the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on November 14 to show the magistrate his receipt.