Juliana Lestrade of Castle Bruce has been fined $200 to be paid forthwith for the offence of attempting to export wildlife without a permit.
Lestrade, who resides in Guadeloupe, was arrested on the Ferry Terminal on Tuesday after a bag containing frozen crayfish and crabs were confiscated from her luggage.
According to her, she was in Dominica on vacation and her sister gave her the items on her return journey.
She told the court that she was unaware that travelling with the animals wase an offence, and apologised.
Meanwhile an inmate of the Stockfarm State Prison has had six weeks added to his sentence for possession of cannabis.
Meschac Lewis of Yam Piece pleaded guilty before Magistrate Candia George for possession of the drug, which he claimed he found while working on a house in Bellevue.
Prosecutor Valda Powell told the court that Lewis was with other prisoners and some officers doing construction in Bellvue Chopin when a black plastic bag was recovered with the cannabis inside of the prison bus.
The inmate admitted that he was the owner of the drug and told the officers that he saw two trees while doing his work and decided to break off two branches.
When asked by the magistrate what he had to say for himself, the accused made no response.
In another case, a French national was arrested on the Roseau Ferry Terminal on 17th July for the same offence.
Cystal Isabel Marie Rumera has been fined $500 to be paid forthwith for possession of cannabis.
A small quantity of marijuana was discovered in Rumera’s travelling bag during a security search.
The defendant was questioned and admitted that it was just some weed for her to smoke.
She claimed that she was unaware that it was illegal to carry marijuana around in Dominica, since in the French countries small quantities of the drug are allowed.
Rumera apologised for her action and accepted responsibility.
well whos fault
im happy 
angry 
and sad 
Honestly eh i doe see the point in tackling all the drugs alone . . it is pointless when almost half the country are unemployed . Yet the government expects to curb crime. People cant feed their children or end up borrowing leaving them in debt. I’m not against the government, there is progress happenin but they should shift their focus on employment to drive people out of poverty.
The same swamp land that we Dominican’s are rejecting is the same land them chinese are breeding and farming crayfish…
how do u breed dead crayfish? Enlighten me will you!
With great difficulty…
Mariguana generates revenue for the country through the courts, thats why the government will never legalise it.
That’s is not true you can carry a little amount of drug in french countries. Using or carrying marijuani is still prohibited :
You must have a medical certificate if you want to carry your marijuana around. So any frenches cannot say that is legal to detain drug in their country and because they know what they are doing and everybody warn them that Dominica is not Jamaica and they cannot come in the country and beleive they could do what they want and smoke everywhere as they do it know in Guadeloupe; Even if police cannot arrest all of them smoking in the street, it’s stay an illegal activity.
What I really want to know is how come d prisoner was working in a house with weed in it and I also wonder if the house is personal property which is wrong
A friend of mine was arrested for only 8 crayfish….and was fined 400 he did not even had crabs …she was fined 200…can someone explain why..what’s the deal here ?
What is the law governing exporting wild-life? If crawfish is considered wild-life, does fish fall in the same category?
What!!! they can arrest you for teteree too. because i always have in my bag when i’m leaving Dominica. Well Police would arrest me too.
What country do you disembark? You are fortunate that you were not caught with them when you land there.
Now that you have stated this, they will be looking out for you and will be searching not only you but others. You need a permit to transport them to other countries, just as fruits and vegetables.
Well u better not be caught. You need a licence to export that too.
The fact that she was transporting them is the issue. Me self from CB and I know better than to be flaunting my lawlessness. Guilty as charged. Next case.
but those chinese doh have permit, they catching all little toolulu, quibish, tayta, titiwee in our rivers, day and night and nobody telling dem nofing, so the law is not for chinese and haitians den? haitians thiefing all ma bob coconuts and walking in road with dem high day with thier crayfish, it doh have police especially in possie for dem?
english will kill us eh. is not chinese alone, its everyone who does it. what she was being charged with was exporting it! stupes
Did you read the article? It was not “possession” or “catching” the crab and crayfish that got the lady fined. It was attempting to leave the country (EXPORT) with those items without the required permit.
Ithav Chinese in Possie for that nuh?
Question! so if i have my crabs well frozen in my fridge from since independence time while the season was on but then i decide go away with it, will i be arrested?even if the season is on or not,but keep in mind i had it all the way back when the season was on, will it be wrong to travel with it for my kids,am just asking,because i have done it in the past.
Check the law,you can have it for a period of 6 weeks after the season has closed or a month but there is a cut off point.You cannot have it forever and say it was on your freezer.Get aquainted with the law.
then the law needs to be ammended, i kept titiwi for almost a year in my freezer to wait for my family from overseas so we could make acra.
Her problem was that she did not have a permit. No one can prove when the crabs were caught. If she had a permit then she would have been fine.
You need a permit to take wildlife out of the country, whether it was in your fridge for twenty years.
all they want you to do is to go to the gardens and get a permit to leave dominica with it. is that too difficult ? just to get a permit a few minutes.
She need to have a permit to export the item, that separate from catching them.
@ blackbeauty
Ask an Immigration Officer who is authorized to correctly answer your question.
Re: Blackbeauty-
For the offence of attempting to export wildlife without a permit.
Its about time! No one takes crabs and crayfish seriously. Maybe this article will let people see the important issues in Dominica.
Too much news is spent on the less important things, like global crisis, economic issues and environmental changes. We need more crayfish stories!
Them Chinese doing worst every day and night you pass along the road, rivers and sea you see them hunting and fishing, so if them Chinese can come here and abuse our law why our own cannot do the say
What God for the Chinese is also good for us DA people, just take a look and you will see since their arrival in DA what is happening to our wildlife
@ friend
You can start writing a crayfish story. Since you thought of it, be the first. It does not have to be factual. It could be fictional. Who knows? It could become a best selling novel.
all of them need to be charged, but why they’re not charging the Chinese that in the river catching all little crayfish day and night in the middle of Roseau? the laws of Dominica is for everybody.
read the article properly!!! allu to racist. is not chinese alone that doing it
she was charged for trying to “EXPORT wildlife without a permit” the key word is EXPORT
@ Is so Den???
It appears that they are untouchable in Dominica. This reminds me whatever happened to the case where the man from Jimmit (?) was trying to get to his home and there was an obstruction since the Chinese were constructing the road and there was a Chinese sign which the man could not read. An argument ensued with the Chinese man following him to his house. A politician who represents that area (I believe) said to the man, that if anything happens to the Chinese they will be in trouble – words to that effect. The man was charged and the case was to be heard in November. This article was on DNO approximately a year ago. Was that case ever called? It would be interesting to know how this case ended. I have not read a thing about it on DNO. Is that case closed?
And they cooking them and sell them to you. They call that shrimp fried rice. LMHO.
Something was not given for nothing…stadium, roads, bridges, etc…Do you think they were unconditional gifts? To whom much is given, much is expected…I guess you guys don’t understand politics…
If u see them send stones behind them so they wont come back
why the lady with the crab did not make a nice callalou and eat it in dominica. why u taking our crabs and bringing it to guadeloupe. good for u.
Ahhhh… give d lady a break man
Wow u mean to tell me Dominicans cannot take crabs, crayfish, agouti or crabs to there families anymore, ehbeh weh Dominica change boy.
What does it mean to be a Dominican?
Now if police come at my home my whole house will be arrested we cus I living on crayfish and crabs them days..
you can but you need a permit and right now hunting season for these animals is closed
Whatever your pen-name is. I wont even attempt to re-write it. You must be living in the dark ages! So many times it has been publicised that (1) It is now the Closed Season for hunting and fishing in freshwater, and (2) that to export wildloife or parts of wildlife one needs a permit, and attempting to do so is an offence under our laws. But, even though you were to come with crabs or crayfish (or other wildlife) at this time of the year to Forestry and ask for a permit to export, you wont be issued with one. The season has been cliosed since 1st January and limited wildlife exports was allowed for a month or so after the close of the season. So, Stop promoting lawlessness and sheer ignorance. Being Dominican does not mean having total disregard for the law. Being Dominican means giving the wildlife a break to reproduce, so that persons like you and others can enjoy some wild meat when wildlife huinting season is open. So, stop playing daft.
Very well said, Mango-Bab!
My entire life I’ve loved mango-bab! That comment made me love it more
. Thank you!
You can export them but with a PERMIT which she did not have. Simple!!
Who would give her a PERMIT during the closed season?
Permit, why should we need a permit to export what is ours? As a Dominican eating crayfish & Crabs is part of our culture, we should need a permit to import Animals to Dominica not export, what is going on in our land?
Don’t the crabs & crayfish swim in our rivers, don’t they belong to all of us, so why do we need a permit for what is ours? What does it mean to be a Dominican?
That has been the law since 1976 my friend.
You need an permit to export wildlife be it dead or alive.
@ Morehei
Do you remember or were you too young then, in bygone years Dominicans did not need a license to catch them and there were no government restriction on certain times of the year to catch them, just as crabs? I recall, as children, whenever we would go to the river to bathe we would catch Crayfish and bring them home and roast them. They were so tasty.
@ Justice and Truth
Yes Yes i remember those days, what is happening to our nature isle? Everything is a restriction.
When you and your family take all the crabs, crayfish and the like and don’t give them sufficient time to spawn and produce young then they will eventually become extinct. Then there will be none left for none.
The reason why their is a ban and off season is for them to reproduce and replenish. Respect the animals and the law cause soon you guys will only have each other to eat!