Though ample warnings were issued prior to the World Creole Music Festival, persons still found themselves in trouble with the law for carrying illegal substances into the Windsor Park Stadium.
“Give me a break,” is what first time offender Phillip Laronde of La Plaine told police after being caught with 10 grams of cannabis at the stadium on October 30.
It was about 1 a.m. when Constable Garvin James did a routine search on the defendant and found a black plastic bag containing cannabis in his right front pocket.
“I would like to say that I was wrong to have it and I’m sorry I had it,” Laronde told the court after pleading guilty to the possession of cannabis.
The farmer and construction worker was fined $450 to be paid by December 15 or he will spend one month in prison.
Where is the Justice A man professing to be a GOOD CHRISTIAN was given a Three year suspended jail sentence for molesting a 13 year old girl
Is there any justice in that, maybe the smoker was doing himself harm, but the rapist did unimaginable harm to that youn girl
LEGALISE IT
@natasa: i checked the like , but i meant the dislike, so consider yourself a 3/12. fool! stay where you are, don’t come back!!
@skerrit:
It is not nutritious food, vegetables.
@benhur:
It is the duty of the Police to do so, ensuring that there are no adverse elements which could inhibit the enjoyment and safety of the attendees.
well i want to add my voce to say that it is a damn shame on this police force to encourage their officers to walk around in the( fest) around visiters and harsing person smoking one joint,splif ,kalee,weed etc……frightening our visiters having them cry shame on dominica …….. Allyou already searching every body for ilegal items so when allyou get something alyou keep but when i get in with my stuff i should be free to blaze it when ever ……… i had the chance to see an arresting of a rasta man smoking one joint….and to my supprise it was to drunk police they were so drunk that their speech was imperfect and could not communicat with the victim……. wat BS ,,,,,,,it seem like the police force is encouraging their officers to take their own drugs whilse on duty (rum)
i think the police them have better work to do, go clean up that dirty
cell in roseau all have people saying and sleeping. thar full off roaches,flys
sentipes ect…
mr weekes pleaselet the police clean up that cell thx.
legalize
@natasa
No one will miss you and who cares whether you return home or not… Dominica don’t need people with your kind of mentality to move it forward… so stay where you are….hope you’re better off and that you’ll never return home now matter what situation you’re in…. I am out of Dominica and I couldn’t criticize my country… Every where has its ups and downs.
@oheah man: hey check this out:
1. you bust a man for 10 gram, you charge him 4.50, however another man is busted with boat loaded with cocain and 10.000, where is the balance
2. you is are drive, diving over 70 Mph in school zone, during school periods and only charge 75.00 for endangering the children life, i think you should be charge 15.0000, so non-smoker why you want worse for the weed smoker who doesn’t endangered people life. and
3. you stop, local grow weed, going in the festival, by local people, however visitor of color, is really search, and if search they are softly padded, but is them the take cocain, extrase, LSD, etc to the festival.
so what
aye, that weed look good! man where can i get some like that. u all not seeing weed is not the killer here,what alu doing is stessing on weed when rum is the killer, that is the one which should be illegal, it is the one breaking up homes and destroying the body.
if it was jah cure the police would not search him cause dominicans lik to kiss strangers a**.paying $450 for a joint,them police n judges the pm ain’t payin them well,keepin reapin off the poor all u so called money laundering n fodgery doing lawmakers, allu hungry.go n cook fig n dasheen n stop thinkin about eatin steak
@natasa:
I reside abroad and I would not make such an unpatriotic statement about not being in a hurry to return to Dominica. I am certain where you reside has a lot of crimes, murders and illegal drugs. The city I reside in is not without them. Those who commit crimes and use illegal drugs are a menace to society. I expect likewise in Dominica.
There are some people who are not disciplined and who do not appreciate discipline. They will also defy the Law. Those who do must pay the consequences of their action.
The Law is the Law and it is to be upheld. It is for the good of all and for the enjoyment of those who attended the Creole Festival.
He was warned. If he has either a radio, TV, computer and read the newspapers he would have known about it. There is no excuse whatsoever. He was found with cannabis and he has to face the Law. Period!
Obey the Law! These are they who make it difficult for the police authorities and for law-abiding citizens.
Let us not make excuses for those who do not abide by the Law.
I do think that he should be fined more money and either imprisoned for a longer period. This may assist him to obey authority.
them police working, the law is the law and we all know that weed not legal so why the hell he have it ,why he could not have smoke his joint and come free up with , them man willful , they should charge him $2000
A Little Weed ,First Time Offender Give The Man A Break .There’s So Much Worst Dat’s Happening in DA .One Can Understand The Bus Load Of Weed Was To Sell ,In Da U Can’t Get A Job What Do ‘ The GOVERNMENT ‘ Expect FromThe People To Survive, Cost Of Living Is Skyhigh Yet No Jobs Weed U Against But The Most Dangerous Stuff U look The Other Way .Tell Me ..Mr SKERRIT How Comes U Have So Much….Politics Makes a Man Rich.. Before If U Doh Have $$$$$$$$$$ U Cant Win Now U Go in Poor U Instantly Become Rich what a ting..
a bit unfair! Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Just because you disagree with a view does not mean you have to go on the atack on the person. Just state your contray or opposing view.
When did Dominicans become so hostile to one another?
You have been given an opportunity to have a debate in public on an international media so why not use it for that purpose?
I myself do not agree that a man should be busted for 10 grams of weed, and furthermore be threatened with imprisonment if he does not pay?
I know the law is the law but sometimes our law enforcement officers should make more use of their discretionary powers.
In California at this moment they are voting and making a decision about the criminality or otherwise of possession of small amounts of cannabis for personal use. They are doing it in a civilised and democratic manner.
Why can we not have the same debate?
So many of our youngsters are being criminalised and demonised for what in my youth days would not even be of interest to the law makers and enforcers.
There is real crime going on in the country and this is what should be being addressed instead of these easy revenue raising efforts by the police.
Let them save their know how and training for solving some real crime.
Prioritise your crime and law enforcement activities. Ask the members of the public who pay their taxes to employ police officers to protect them if that is the way they want the police to be spending their time and tax dollars.
Give us some value for our money. These petty so called crimes are not the real issue.
Politicians,let us have the debate. Or are you worried that if the police attention is focussed on real crime that you will become uncomfortable?
Food for thought.
and fellow bloggers: please start to respect the power of this medium!
Let us show the rest of the world that we have come a long way from the colonial days of ignorance to this our 32 years of independence from mental slavery.
Tomorrow is discovery day. The anniversary of the day that Spaniard say he discovered us the “savages”.
We have come a long way, have we not?
just 1 plastic weed $4.50 dallars.alas.i hope learn lesson from this dont walk with drugs.thats beating oh
@natasa: yea natasa i think you should stay where u a and when those cops there stop and search u why dont you call them modarah..all u like to bash all u own too much once all u leave dominica all u like to critisize all u dose damn dominicans dat turning dog in other people country…yea stay where u are
Did the police seize the 10 grams of Cannabis? Was it brought to the police Station as evidence for the case? Did any Top Police Official order any other policeman to give Phillip back his weed without signing for it?
Dominicans, remember what happened when the unlicensed gun in the ‘intimidation case’ was given back to the culprit after it was taken away and placed in the Police Station as evidence? It was a lower rank Policeman who was ordered by a HIGH RANKING Officer to give the culprit back his UNLICENSED GUN. Am I lying? Isn’t that TRUE? That TOP Official was bold enough to tell the whole world that the Prosecutor, another Policeman like him, was wrong to ask for the gun back from the culprit. That IRRESPONSIBLE, BOLD statement and CRAZY action was totally against the law that the police themselves are there to respect. Well, that culprit was a friend of BIG BOYS in high places.
NO CASE regarding BIN BOBOL. NO CASE regarding FERTILIZER BOBOL. NO CASE regarding numerous other criminal offenses by ‘BIG BOYS’ or HIGH REPUTE PERSONS. Poor Phillip does not have friends UP THERE. Just a small bit of Dominica’s INJUSTICE SYSTEM. WRONG IS WRONG IS WRONG DOH MATTER WHO DO IT.
a lil weed never hurt nobody
there are two things it is either good or bad stop that double standard
WELL, WEED IS NOT A DRUG AS THEY SAY , BUT THERE IS A LOT OF REPROCAUSIONS FOR IT , THIS WEED THING CAN HOLD YOU DOWN FOR A LONG TIME , IT CAN PREVENT YOU FORM PROSPERITY IN THE RIGHT WAY IF YOU WANT IT, THE POLICE COULD BE A LITTLE LINIENT ON THE PEOPLE , BUT IT IS THE LAW AND WE SHOULD ABIDE BY IT , NO WEED MEANS NO WEED, THE POLICE DID NOT MAKE A PLEA FOR O REASON , IF YOU WAN TO LIGHT IT UP AND BLAZE IT DO IT IN THE COMFORT OF YOUR CASA, SIMPLE AS THAT.
The fact still remains that the use there is subjected under the control of the law and until such time when the law will have been repealed, anyone caught with the herb will be subject to prosecution. It is simple you know.
@natasa: u all never know what u want….. what if the guy had a weapon and did harm to someone. u will step in and say police not doing their job they know they got to search people…. come on be real and b4 fest they were warned so he have to take what he get
“It was about 1 a.m. in the morning when constable Garvin James made a ROUTINE search of the defendant and found a black plastic bag with the cannabis in his right front pocket”.
What is a routine search? Do we arbitrarily search people in Dominica? Who do we single out for searching? If the cannabis was in his pocket, why was he a suspect and why was he searched?
If the Dominica authorities are so arrogant about some weed in a festival which the world knows go hand in hand, then the foreigners who come to enjoy themselves will stop attending also the its citizens. The system rather the legal killer drug alcohol to be used which destroy mans internal organs and make them lost their gist for life. I personally know this young lady who is attending AA meetings , she said it will be for the rest of her life to stay sober , after getting hooked on alcohol.
gimme a break!!! we too dam modarah in dominica
yes charge the man for weed while
others escaping the law; committing crimes in broad daylight
one day the ordinary man will rise up against that eh!!!
This is pure rubbish… At 1 am in the morning someone is chilling enjoying the fest and the cops searching for weed? no wonder this island can’t move on.. The cops i guess gotta make their quota so they harrassing the people for bull-crap. Was there any intent to sell? i doubt… He musta brought his weed to blaze it up. That’s why i’m sorry to say i’m in no hurry to return to live in Dominica.There are more serious crimes going on that need the cops attention and they ain’t even taking care of it. I’m sooo annoyed. Weed is not DRUGS, its a grass doggoneit..
DOMINICA WHY DO YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW ? WHY CAN’T YOU LEAD ? THE WHOLE WORLD CAN SEE THAT THE WEED IS BETTER THAN RUM. AT WHICH FESTIVAL IN THIS WORLD DO POLICE HASSLE THE PATRONS FOR WEED.MANY FORIGN NATIONALS WERE ARESTED ALSO,AND HELD IN THAT DIRTY SELL FROM FRIDAY AND BROGHT BEFORE THE COURT ON MONDAY. THAT IS NOT GOOD FOR THE SHOW,NOT GOOD FOR FREEDOM,NOT GOOD FOR DOMINICA. THOSE SHOWS WERE WEED SMOKERS SHOWS THEREFOFE IT WAS A TRAP SET BY THE ORGANIZERS. I THINK THE POLICE IN DA IS OK WITH A FEW EXCEPTIONS,WHO ARE MISSLED BY THE PROMISE OF PROMOTIONS.DOMINICANS MUST RETURN TO BEING ONE FAMILY.STRAIT.