Welder admits selling cannabis to pay bills

A 19-year-old welder told police he was selling cannabis in The City to help pay his bills after being arrested with 27 packages containing the drug on Saturday.  

Jahuan Jason Haniff, of Chapman Street, appeared in the District ‘A’ Traffic Court before Magistrate Alison Burke and pleaded guilty to having 10.89 grammes of cannabis, valued at $54.45.  

Prosecutor Constable Troy Tudor said that police went to Tudor Street after an anonymous caller contacted the station reporting that a man wearing black pants and shirt, and a green hat, with a Jamaican accent, had tried to sell them weed. Officers found a man meeting the description and smelled the strong scent of marijuana on approaching him.  

They searched him and found cannabis wrapped in wax paper hidden in his groin area. He told them: “It is my little weed and I was selling it to pay bills.”  

The court was told that Haniff had no previous convictions but was currently on bail on another matter.  

Haniff said he was working in construction but was having difficulty getting paid.  

“Every week, the boss man saying next week, next week. So he will pay for three days or two days but not the full amount so I was selling to make something extra,” he said.  

Warning him against trying to make money through illegal means, Magistrate Burke reprimanded and discharged him for the offence.

(JB)