Police were on patrol last Saturday evening when they saw a young man in the area of the National Botanical Gardens in Waterford St Michael.
And when 25-year-old Ramon Akeem Doyle spotted the officers he pushed his hand in his pocket and tossed a package into a grassy area raising suspicion.
The labourer from Leinster Road, Waterford, St Michael was stopped and the package was retrieved. It was found to contain cannabis and Doyle was charged with possession.
He was also slapped with a charge that he contravened Paragraph 1 of the Emergency Management COVID-19 Curfew No. 4 Directive as he was outdoors that day, May 8, around 5:15 p.m without reasonable explanation.
Doyle was charged with possession, possession with intent to supply and possession of a trafficable quantity of the illegal drug after police executed a search warrant at his residence and found five plants. Sergeant Theodore McClean said the drug weighed 36.37 grammes with an estimated value of $181.
Doyle pleaded guilty to all the charges before Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes recently. At first he told the District ‘D’ Magistrates’ Court he did not want to say anything in his defence because “I don’t want to waste the court’s time”. But he subsequently disclosed that he worked “picking coconuts”.
On the drug trafficking charge Doyle was placed on a bond to keep the peace and be of good behaviour for six months. If breached he will have to pay the court a $1,000 forthwith fine or spend six months in prison. He was reprimanded and discharged on all the other drug offences.
For breaking the national curfew Doyle has 16 weeks in which to pay a $2,500 fine or spend three months in prison.
