Categories: Court

Tough times led to drug dealing

When circumstances in a Christ Church man’s life became “tight” six years ago he turned to the illegal drug trade.

But that move did little to alleviate Dale O’Neal Adamson’s situation as he found himself in trouble with the law when he was caught with 347.6 kilos of marijuana in the country’s territorial waters on July 10, 2013.

“I do this because things tight right now and my child mother put me in court,” Adamson said at the time of his arrest.

Today in the No. 5 Supreme Court before Madam Justice Pamela Beckles, the Sargeant Village resident pleaded guilty to possession and having a traffickable quantity as well as importation of cannabis.

In outlining the facts, Senior Crown Counsel Olivia Davis said coast guard officials were in the waters off Needhams Point about 9:35 p.m. when they observed a vessel heading towards
the island without any navigational lights. The vessel sped off as they approached but was intercepted about 8.5 nautical miles off Needhams Point.

Two persons were aboard the vessel namely Adamson, who was a crewman and the captain who previously pleaded guilty to the same offences. When officials boarded they found 16 packages comprising of 14 polythene bags and two duffle bags both containing vegetable matter.

Justice Beckles has ordered a report on Adamson’s life in preparation for sentencing. The accused who has one previous conviction will return before the judge on June 27 when an officer from Dodds prison is also expected to inform the court on his time already spent on remand. He is also expected to address the Justice Beckles at that time.

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View Comments

  • If this mans story is to be believed, he could have spent much less effort and built a lucrative, legitimate business: he can't advertise, he has to be paranoid of new clients, he faces threats from rivals, he has to depend on repeat business, he doesn't know who will inform on him, he has to seek business 24/7...I myself, and many others, couldn't deal with the stress. I put it to you that he was dealing before things became "tight."

  • If this man's situation and what led him to this point does not hit home and cause people to take a really serious look at our structures here from our educational system right down to our class system then we are lost...we need to recognize telling someone to go find a job is easy to say but finding that job isn't so easy to do. We need to recognize that telling someone that they did not take advantage of being given a free education hence the reason they can't get a job only works if the educational system was established to meet the needs of all, but it isn't.

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