Duo caught with $744 600 worth of cannabis sentenced to prison

Two Tobagonians who trafficked $744 600 worth of marijuana in Barbados’ territorial waters will each spend over two more years behind bars here.

As of Tuesday, Anton James has 1 182 more days, or around three years, left to serve at Dodds Prison, while Kyrsten Trim has just over two years or 1 002 days.

Justice Randall Worrell handed down the sentences on the duo in the No. 2 Supreme Court. The jail time is the remainder of a 12-year starting sentence imposed for trafficking 193.65 kilogrammes or 426.92 pounds of cannabis on February 15, 2021. James and Trim were convicted, reprimanded and discharged on the offences of possession and importation of the illicit drug.

“This is a matter that can only be dealt with by way of a custodial sentence. It is quite clear [given] the excessive amount of drugs,” Justice Worrell told the convicted men. “I don’t think a starting point of 12 years is unreasonable given the quantity.”

From the 12 years, a deduction of three years was given for mitigating factors and another three years for their guilty pleas, leaving them with six years, or 2 190 days, left to serve.

They were also credited with 828 days which is the time they had already spent on remand at Dodds. That left 1 362 days, from which another 180 days were deducted, given the two-year delay which it took for the matter to be adjudicated.

Given that James admitted he was the mastermind of the enterprise, he will spend the next 1 182 days in jail.

Trim, meanwhile, was given a further deduction of 180 days from his 1 182 days as he is said to have played a more subordinate role.

Both men were told to participate in vocational and educational programmes available at the prison.

Justice Worrell said the court had looked at imposing fines on the Tobagonians but there was nothing to indicate they could pay.

According to the facts of the case read to the court by Acting Senior State Counsel Rudolph Burnett, officers from the Drug Squad and the Coast Guard ventured out to sea on February 15, 2021, following a tip-off.

About 3.8 nautical miles off Needham’s Point, they encountered a vessel with registration number TFT-208, bearing the name Swamp Dog. In the presence of both men, the vessel was searched, and ten polythene bags containing the drugs were discovered.

The men were represented by King’s Counsel Andrew Pilgrim. ]]>