Fine imposed in long-delayed cannabis trafficking case

A St Peter man has been fined $6 000 for trafficking more than 100 kilogrammes of cannabis, after the court considered the inordinate delay in the matter, his positive pre-sentence report and his limited role in the offence.

Junior Ricardo Emmanuel of Six Men’s Development, St Peter, had pleaded guilty in the No. 5A Supreme Court during a previous sitting to having 107.5 kilos of cannabis in his possession and to having a traffickable quantity of cannabis while within Barbados’ territorial waters on September 26, 2008.

Justice Christopher Birch said:  “I accept based on the facts that you were not the mastermind behind this. I accept from your allocutus that at the time you were much younger and your judgment is not what it is now. I have taken note of the findings of the probation department that you are someone who has since that time straightened yourself out, and you are a law-abiding citizen today. I accept that you have a low risk of reoffending. However, it falls to the court to express its profound disapproval of your actions back then.” 

Commenting on the quantity of drugs seized, the judge noted that a single spliff is 0.5 grammes of cannabis, and that therefore “you were bringing a lot of drugs into this country”.

He found this aggravating, as well as the trafficking offence being committed for financial gain, that there was some level of sophistication, and the harmful impact of this controlled substance on society, before reaching a starting sentence of ten years.

The judge found mitigating factors in Emmanuel’s positive pre-sentence report, which deemed him at low risk of recidivism, his being gainfully self-employed, his early guilty plea and expression of remorse, and reduced the sentence by two years. A one-third discount was granted for his plea, and Emmanuel was credited with deductions of 48 months for delay and 204 days for time on remand, resulting in a sentence of nine months.

Noting that the State had submitted that an alternative sentence of a fine be imposed, and that it not be heavy due to his limited role in the commission of the offence, Justice Birch ordered him to pay $6 000, $1 000 of which was due immediately, with the balance to be settled in nine months. If the fine is not paid within that time, the custodial sentence will be activated.

Emmanuel was convicted, reprimanded and discharged for the possession charge.

In his statement, the convicted man told police he had arranged to meet a man from St Lucia out at sea who was bringing in weed for him. He left home and met a friend in Speightstown.

He got a “parro man” whom did not know to bring down his boat to Speightstown, and he and his friend went out to the cement plant area, where he received a call from the man he had arranged to meet.

“He tell me he got something for me and I assume it was de weed he had for me,” the statement read, adding that shortly after giving their location, a Coast Guard boat arrived and took them to base, where he saw the man he had arranged to meet, a young fellow, and some white packages on the ground. 

“I assume it was de weed [the man] had for me. I am not a robber or a murderer but de only way I gine mek it is to sell weed.”

The case will be reviewed on September 25.

(JB)