Ivy man gets six years for drugs

After apologising to the High Court and the country for his actions, Kersten Damian Moore was sentenced to six years in prison on several drug charges.

The 34-year-old of Skeete’s Road, No. 1 Ivy, St Michael pleaded guilty in an earlier sitting of the Criminal Assizes to possession of and trafficking of 92.6 kilogrammes of cannabis October 28, 2017.

During a Zoom hearing yesterday Moore told Justice Randall Worrell, “I would just like to apologise to the court, my fellow Barbadians, for unreasonably thinking and taking drugs and placing them at my residence.

“I have learned from my situation here being incarcerated . . . and I am very sorry. I will just try my best to be a better citizen and help myself and help my country. I would just like to apologise,” he added.

In handing down the sentence the No. 2 Supreme Court judge said the aggravating feature of the case was the quantity of drugs involved which was “clearly for profit”.

Justice Worrell said the fact that Moore was not the mastermind of the offence and played a “small role” and that there was no violence involved were mitigating factors. His cooperation with police during the investigation, his early guilty plea and the fact he had no previous convictions for drugs also went in his favour.

Moore has only one antecedent dating back to 2005 for indecent language.

The judge then gave a starting sentence of six years in prison before crediting Moore with a one-third discount for his guilty plea, leaving him with four years in prison, on each count to run concurrently. He was also credited for the 994 days he had already spent on remand. The sentence was also backdated to November 1, 2017, when he was remanded to prison for the crime.

Attorney-at-law Kendrid Sargeant represented Moore while Crown Counsel Romario Straker held for Crown Counsel Oliver Thomas who prosecuted the case.