Selling ganja to ‘set up his shack’

Sineku resident Betham Valmond has been sentenced to two months in prison after pleading guilty to a charge of possession with intent to supply cannabis.

Valmond was arrested and charged on May 12th, at Mahaut River in the Carib Territory.

According to the Police, Valmond was seen walking along the main road of Mahaut River carrying a black backpack, when he entered a yard declaring “partner how much weed you want $5? $10? $20?”

The officers on patrol approached him and conducted a search and recovered 155 grams of marijuana in the bag.

The defendant informed the police that he was selling the drug so that he would be able to “set up his shack.”

Magistrate Candia George reminded the defendant that he was given several chances in the past for various offences when he begged the court for leniency.

Before handing down her sentence she warned the defendant about selling the illegal drug “although you may be making a quick buck for yourself you are destroying the lives of others and you should stop it!”

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23 Comments

  1. MAKAVELI
    May 16, 2012

    Marijuana is good . ABUSE IS THE PROBLEM. SMOKE LESS AND GOD WILL BLESS.

  2. Francisco Telemaque
    May 16, 2012

    I used to seell ganja.. i don’t see nothing wrong with that.

  3. Annon
    May 16, 2012

    I agree with Valmond. AND it needs to be Legalized. Period!

  4. Don't Speak
    May 16, 2012

    Legalize it – don’t criticize it
    Legalize it and i will advertise it

    It’s good for the flu
    It’s good for asthma
    Good for tuberculosis
    Even umara composis

    • real
      May 16, 2012

      good for brain destruction too!!!!!!!!!!!

      • Annon
        May 16, 2012

        So is alcohol, and it’s legal distroying countless lives and families thru a desease called….you guessed it – alcoholism.

  5. my sweet dominica
    May 16, 2012

    The way i look at it , is that the man is making his living he is not hurting anyone , you always have a choice if he is selling and you don’t want to buy then don’t buy.there are worst crime being committed out there and the judges , police and magistrates afraid to touch those criminals. marijuana is a being legalized by the same governments and country who made them illegal , it’s the 21st century , don’t we see that these governments knew how much money they would be making from the marijuana so they made it illegal so the money would be theirs , and the big drug companies.why send a man to prison for that and when he gets out he has nothing to do to take care of himself . these magistrate sit in their chairs and think that they are so high and mighty , but they have so many Sheltons in their own closets .

  6. The truth
    May 16, 2012

    First time I feel sorry for a dealer. Partially because it is weed and partially because he bein honest I trying to built a little shelter for his self. Next time my boy, sell two pat fig for five dollars instead ok. The five ten n twenty not worth the two months. You can get the same amount for some ground provisions.

  7. xyz
    May 15, 2012

    Before all you Christopher Columbus the Kalinago planting his bush. Leave them people alone! And takeback the Rum and Crack that is destroying them.

  8. wi papa
    May 15, 2012

    mister father have enough land for him to cultivate…work di land my broda!! please don’t follow your bother foot step for life in prison…be encouraged and build yourself a better future!!!…cudos to the police in this community always on the patrol stoute,williams etc…keep up the hard work!

    • Charlie
      May 16, 2012

      Idiot! … instead encourage them to seek the white powder they hiding and protecting.

    • PUSS
      May 17, 2012

      if his father have so much land why not sell some in it? everybody interested in owning a piece of D.A

  9. shorty
    May 15, 2012

    SHE MAKIN AOT TELLIN HIM COME AND B HER YARD BOY IT SO DAMN HARD DEM SEASON TO GET A JOB FINISH OR DOE FINISH IT STILL HARD THEY NO WHO THEY DOES DO DAT ONE SET BUT DOE WORRY JUSTICE DERE FOR ALL HER TIME WILL COME IF U SELL A LITTLE WEED ALL DEM BIG DRUG DEALERS DEY HOLDIN OVER AND OVER IN A MATTER OF MONTHS THEY DOES GIVE DEM BAIL BUT A POOR MAN UP TO PRISON HE MUST GO JAH GUIDE AND PROTECT US

  10. j
    May 15, 2012

    who is CANDIA GEORGE TO CALL THE NATURAL HERB OF JAH ILLEGAL? WHO GAVE YOU THAT AUTHORITY HERE ON THIS GOD GREEN EARTH?

  11. smokey
    May 15, 2012

    i dont agree with the judge the man is not destroying any ones life because he did not put a gun to make them buy the weed he ask how much u want just like selling cow meat how many lbs you want and u say and better yet he selling it to fix his home come on judge you would rather he steal my materials in my yard to fix his house and come infront of you for voley give the man a break he did not do nothing wrong and the police them chasing after them little caribes need to be jail for child abuse

  12. May 15, 2012

    I have noticed over the last 3 weeks, there has been an iregularily high level of “ganja” fines handed out to the people of Dominica. Is this the government plan for all the lost GDP from the decline of farming and tourists??? Looking from the outside in, your leaders appear to not understand priorities. Cleaning up the tourist robbings and beatings is PRIORITY #1!! Local ganja smoking so called crimes is a waste of court time, and waste of police services. Get your police down to Batibou Beach ASAP for a STING OPERATION. Priorities need to be put into check, then your island will look safe again (or at least some sort of effort being made) and tourists will come, hence money and jobs for the people of Dominica. Why is the obvious so unclear to your leaders? I just dont get it.

  13. Anonymous
    May 15, 2012

    EC$1,500.00 charage for the Black man with a joint, 2 months for 155 grams for the Kalinago man. No justice here, dude! The black guy must have had a seriously huge one

  14. shameful
    May 15, 2012

    He is really a mad man. Dont blame him.

  15. mad man
    May 15, 2012

    What lives weed destroying tell her pipe down stupes de man trying to build a small house and sin for himself she want to tie the man and put the man on the streets then what another man on the road ah

    • susan
      May 15, 2012

      YOU ARE NOT MAKING ANY SENSE

      • khan
        May 15, 2012

        stupes de man talking real thing star…. u take one of de street ah 3 more like him ah jump fi take him place.. that ah how de life is star..

    • Stop Talking 4 once
      May 15, 2012

      What is wrong with our people, did you think before writing. My God! help our parents or who are?

      • AFAN
        May 16, 2012

        did you???? stop looking at the grammar and look at the reality that this judge just sent someone to jail for two months for peddling what has a street value of less than 500 dollars.i am sure it cost us the tax payers more than that just for her to hear the case, plus the days he has spent remanded and the 60 or so days he will spend in prison even if it costs taxpayers $10 per day( i am sure its much more than that) it still cost more than the value of what he was supposedly peddling. what about the knock-on costs the intangibles, the value of the mans time if it was being used productively and what about the overcrowding such sentences causes at our prisons. when we start demanding more from those who represent us, issues like these are more likely to be resolved with common sense which once again has proven to be uncommon among our ruling elite.

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