A Roseau Magistrate has imposed a hefty fine on a Dominican national and a Venezuelan national who both pleaded guilty to possession of drugs.
Philbert Gibbs Daisy, a 47-year old from the community of Morne Rachette residing in Dublanc and Alejandra David Malave Mundarain, a 26-year old from Venezuela, were arrested for possession of cannabis with intent to supply it to another. The total amount of cannabis was 83,263 grams with an estimated street value of EC$416,815.17
According to the facts as presented in court, on March 1, 2019, police constable Lambert Hilaire applied for and obtained a search warrant for the home of Daisy who resides in Syndicate.
Armed with the warrant, Hilaire, along with other police personnel, went to Syndicate in search of Daisy where he was spotted driving a vehicle on the Syndicate public road.
“He was stopped and told about the warrant and agreed to accompany us (police) to his home for the search to be conducted,” the police prosecutor told the court.
Asked if he had drugs on his premises Daisy replied, “Not that I am aware of.”
The police said he introduced them to his property which is a 9 acre parcel of agricultural land and while they conducting the search, they met Mundarain lying on the ground covered with a tarpaulin. He spoke only Spanish. A search was conducted on his person and a firearm with 15 rounds of live ammunition was found strapped to his right leg underneath his pants close to his ankle. He claimed that the firearm was for his protection. He is not the holder of a firearms license in Dominica.
Further searches revealed several bags of what appeared to be cannabis and cocaine.
The police also charged Mundarain for illegal entry in the country and he was fined $1,500.00 to be paid forthwith and in default, six months in jail. For the possession of a firearm, he was fined $10,000.00 and in default, one year in jail. No separate penalty was imposed for the ammunition. For the possession of cocaine, Mundarain was given a seven year jail sentence which was suspended for two years. He was also fined $45,000.00 for trafficking cocaine and in default, 7 years in jail.
The court fined Daisy $45,000.00 for possession of cannabis to be paid by December 1, 2019 and in default, two years jail. For trafficking cannabis, there was no separate penalty. For possession of cocaine, the fine is $30,000.00 with $10,000.00 to be paid forthwith and in default, 7 years in jail. The balance of the $20,000.00 is to be paid by August 31, 2019 and in default 7 years in jail. Daisy paid the forthwith fine and now has a balance of sixty five thousand dollars to pay.
Lawyers Wayne Norde and Gina Abraham from the Chambers of Norde & Lambert represented the men in the matter.
Good. Teach them a lesson.
I don’t support fines being imposed on marijuana. But, cocaine is a harsh and terrible substance. It’s a home wrecker. I think the laws should be stricter when dealing with cocaine even the death penalty should be given in certain situations. That would cease the urge to supply cocaine into dca. Our penal system is too weak. The drug dealers know that they’re gonna be free in some time. But if they knew that there was impending death. Then, they wouldn’t dare.
Funny that he was fined for ILLEGAL ENTRY and in default go to jail. Trump is saying the very same thing about people coming into the US illegally and we criticize him. I guess its ok for us to do it here but not ok for the US to do it .SMH
That is the us business!!!!
You see most of the people against Trump’s immigration policies are either in the US illegally or know people who are their illegally. Either that or they are just stupid and feel an unwarranted sense of resentment for someone trying to enforce law and order.