A twenty-year-old man from Thibaud was slapped with a $35,000.00 fine after he pleaded guilty to trafficking over $140,000.00 worth of cannabis.
Kerry Graham of Thibaud, Neil Bellot of Grand Coulibrie, Grand Bay and Anthony Williams of Bellevue Chopin appeared before the Roseau Magistrate court jointly charged for a drug trafficking offense, namely, possession of 63,626.6 grams of cannabis.
Bellot and Williams pleaded not guilty to the charge while Graham entered a guilty plea which police prosecutor, Corporal Dale LeBlanc, accepted and offered no evidence against the first two defendants. Presiding Magistrate, Michael Ladaut, then struck off the case against Bellot and Williams for ‘want of prosecution.’
According to the facts of the case presented to the court by the prosecution, on June 24, 2022, Woman Police Constable (WPC) Kayanner St.Hilaire applied and obtained a search warrant to search a compound in Vieille Case.
On arrival at the said premises, on the strength of the warrant, WPC St. Hilaire along with other officers of the drug squad unit commenced their search after speaking with the defendant and others present.
While searching an unfurnished wooden structure where Graham and others were standing, the officers found five nylon bags, a carry-on bag and a clear plastic bag with what appeared to be cannabis weed.
When questioned about the findings Graham responded, “first time I seeing that.”
Graham, along with the others who were present on the premises, were arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking and were transported to the Police Headquarters in Roseau.
At the drug squad office, in the presence of the defendant, the drugs were weighed and totaled 63,626.6 grams.
Samples of the drugs were later taken to the government analysis unit for testing and tested positive for cannabis.
A charge was later preferred against Graham and he was brought before the Roseau Magistrate Court.
At the court hearing, defense attorney, Gina Thomas-Abraham, who represented the 20-year-old, pleaded with the court to “temper justice with mercy.”
During her plea in mitigation, she told the Magistrate that consideration should be given to the fact her client pleaded guilty to the offense at the first opportunity and thereby did not waste the court’s time. She added that he was a first time offender and cooperated fully with the police during the course of their investigation.
Abraham-Thomas further posited that while cannabis is still illegal in Dominica, the drug in itself can have a lot of positive benefits.
“So Your Honor, I would urge you to consider the offense for which the defendant was charged and take into consideration the direction in which the world is going where cannabis is concerned,” the lawyer stated.
She pleaded with Magistrate Laudaut to consider the purpose of sentencing which she pointed out is not only to punish the offender but also has the goal of rehabilitating and reintegrating the defendant into society.
“The mere fact that he is before the court today is evidence that he has slipped but we do believe that there is very much hope that if given the opportunity, he can do better,” Abraham-Thomas reasoned. “Take a chance on this young man Your Honor and give him the opportunity to right his wrongs.”
The maximum penalty for the offense of drug trafficking at the Magistrate’s court is $150,000.00 or three times the street value of the drugs, whichever is greater.
For the 63,626.6 grams of cannabis which carried a street value of $140,140.00, the maximum penalty would be a fine of $420,420.00. However, Abraham-Thomas suggested a starting point of 35% of the amount.
After deducting a third for his guilty plea, a 20% discount for the fact that he is a first-time offender, and an additional 30% discount for the mitigating factors, the attorney suggested that a fine, not exceeding $31,000.00, be imposed on her client with “reasonable” time to pay.
However, in handing down his judgment, Magistrate Laudat reprimanded Graham for his actions and said the court would not deviate from the sentencing guidelines.
Laudat stated he was convinced that the defendant had a significant role to play in the offense despite his attorney stating otherwise. According to him, the 20-year-old was motivated by financial gain.
For the drug trafficking offense, Graham was fined $35,000.00 to be paid in three installments. The first payment of $10,000.00 by November 30, 2022, $15,000.00 by May 31, 2023, and the balance of $10,000.00 no later than December 31, 2023. In default of any payment, Graham will be imprisoned for six months.
Dominica Police Force, go and arrest the cocaine and crack importers and dealers in Dominica, we all know who they are. The cocain and crack that is killing our young and making them mad being imported from South America! Leave Jah herb alone! Wake up! Even the white man now accept the herb and you still persecuting and prosecuting your sons and farmers for a herb? Stop it now!
The Police are doing their job, they are not the policymakers. When the higher-ups say jump they can’t even afford to ask how high, so lay off the police. If you want itto change then it is time to lobby your parl reps and President for change.
Looking close, I actually agree with you on that!
The PM is everybody parl rep. But yo are right, that is the role of a parl rep. And they should be used to instill change in the communities and island by extension. However, they are ALLLLL useless. None of em can do anything without the PM being involved.
It’s just a herb man!
Partner. Just take you 6. Months and finish with that. You will have plenty of time to reflect on your actions. Case close.
I knew one day IBO would talk the truth.Only people living in poverty sell drugs..
As usual, you illegal,indolent, ungrateful, unemployed migrant, do what you know best, clowning around. You up in the US assured of your food stamps. Thousands in Dominica have no idea where they will get food tomorrow.
So how about your billionaire pharmaceutical legal/tiff/friends, not in poverty but selling drugs, they not people too? they die na?
So how is this young man going to come up with $10 000 in the next 5 months??? So i guess he has to go and get more drugs to pay off his fine… SMH
“Abraham-Thomas further posited that while cannabis is still illegal in Dominica…” ?? What kind if lawyer are you? For your information MS LAWYER…. 1 ounce of, or 28 grams of, or 3 trees of marijuana (per household) is LEGAL in Dominica. You’re defending a client based on a Law that you’re not fully versed in? Alas. Padna…. pay ur 35K and move on bro. If you fall again pass mamsel straight.
” First time I seeing that” That police force tan.
Bullsh…..Crack Cocaine drug dealers go free while Alcohol continue destroying lives and the Natural herb famers go down in flames. FIRE BURN THEM WICKED…
Cannabis being illegal has absolutely nothing to do with right or wrong. Doctors carried a bit of it when they used to make house calls to cure many ailments before it was made illegal in that racist undertaking. It was and still is, one of the grandest racist moves from the Jim-crow (days of whites-only signs and rampant linchings of Black people all over the U.S) 1930’s pushed by the Kuklux klan, particularly Harry Anslinger the drug tzar responsible in order to imprison Black and Mexican citizens. It has succeeded in achieving just that, but how do we fit into that plan? Look it up, do just a tiny bit of research.
Find out how did they, the racists controlling the world at the time, up till the present, get us to participate in this racist imprisonment of our people and publish your findings here on DNO for our benefit. Common, you can do it, even I did it and I’m astonished to find out that it’s not what they made it out to be. Absolutely not.
“Take a chance on this young man Your Honor and give him the opportunity to write his wrongs.” I believe you meant to say, “Right his wrongs.”
But in any case, this lawyer cannot be serious, asking the judge to consider that marijuana has “a lot of positive benefits”?? I’m sorry… was this 20-year-old considering any “positive benefits” when he was hiding this huge amount of marijuana? What a shame!
Don’t we have enough parros (junkies for our English-only readers) on the streets of Dominica? This tiny country…so many young men have lost their minds because they have started doing a little marijuana but then graduated to a stronger drug. It only leads the mind to crave more and more. This is a serious problem and it’s a shame that Dominica has legalized it. But nobody is doing any research in this country to see the real effects of this cannabis devil… I pity this country!
@MeAlone ,, Sorry you are still so uninformed in this day of information. See comment by Merlin above as a starting point.
Kerry you should know better than upsetting the Possie syndicate business. Well, that is the cost of doing business my boy. You will have to secure more weed now to pay the fine. You young and cocky but they watching you.
21Billion dollar industry, but only for white countries.
Our leaders are simply low level coloniser agents whose job is to make sure our countries stay poor. There is no other explanation for why in 2022, Skerrit still has policies in place that criminalise African descendants for doing what white people can do freely!
That said, all you so called drugs man does talk too much. They ‘obtained a warrant’ because somebody sell all you out!
Great point. To understand it we need historical perspective. Our leaders have all become vassals of the european countries and UN security council that put the world in the MESS that it is in today. Failed!
Ok fine, you do the crime, you pay the fine. But it does appear like the broken justice system only works for one set in Dominica and for the rest it disappears like black voodoo. It also appears that what this rubbish of a police force know how to do best is to protect the great grandfather of politics, the eternal laborite king Dr. Dr. Dr. Skeritt. Has the tipple doctor ever been fined for raping the country of it’s billions of dollars? Has the great visionary been fined for his political stupidity for letting Ross University leave our shores? Has the poverty maker non job creator ever been fined for telling his luciferian followers to dash UWP supporters with hot oil when they come to their doorsteps? Boy I tell you the kind of fine I would have given Skeritt aka WANNABE WORLD BOSS the the universe wouldn’t have enough ink and paper to print money for mister to pay his debt. Even his pwel would have gone bankrupt
The law is the law and I do not condone lawlessness. Even though many think that people should get a pass for possession of marijuana not until it is made legal.
In Dominica, unemployment among the young is unacceptably high. Too many among the youthful population are idle. Jobs are as rare as water in a desert.
The young people have a multiplicity of needs. They turn to illicit undertakings to satisfy these yearnings, many times, by running afoul of the law.
Many times, I ask myself this question. Can a desperately poor, hungry man be moral? Presently, in Dominica, hundreds are falling below the poverty line adding to the tens of thousands already languishing there, seemingly, from cradle to grave.
The ruling regime should make it a priority to create well paying, livable jobs for the young, restive residents.
Those boys want it now.
“She added that he was a first time offender”
That cracked me up!! First time getting caught i would say.
This court sound like a flee market where man negotiating a discount on an item. This is too funny. I say let the guy go. Canabis is legal in Colorado lets start shipping straight from Dominica to Colorado. What difference it makes when it is legal to have weed and smoke. Is either it legal or it illegal. This guy could make lots of gummies oils and cosmetics.
Good job Comrade Laudat. Fair and balanced judgement. The young chap must be thankful to you for giving him an opportunity at reinventing himself. Lets us all hope he learns from his mistake. We can all argue about weed needing to be totally legalized but it is NOT! At least not for now hence law and order shall be maintained at all cost.
@Bwa-Banday
I totally agree with the last portion of your statement. Marijuana is still illegal and therefore it behooves all of us to abide within the confines of the law.
If we are selective in enforcing only some laws then we will have a complete breakdown of law and order.
Dominica should follow what obtains in Jamaica, Antigua & Barbuda and other countries concerning the growing, harvesting and exporting of marijuana.
Unfortunately, we are dealing with an anachronistic regime which is last in anything positive, and first in all things dubious and corrupt. With Roosevelt at the helm of gkvernmrnt, Dominica will continue to live in the Dark Ages.
See what man could be charged with for drug trafficking. I wonder if these men say sorry like the the guy who told the girl long time I wanted to rape you. Then go court and say if he had the chance he would tell the young woman sorry then escaped jail time. I wonder if these guys would escape jail time or paying that fine.
West I hope you know the difference between rape and weed my boy, two entirely different things.