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A Grand Bay man has until December 31, 2023, to complete payment of a $23,000.00 fine which was handed down against him by the Court, following his guilty plea to cultivation of 152 plants of cannabis and drug trafficking 5,448 grams of the said drug valued at $38,000.00.<\/p>\n
Connel Angol age 47 of Montine, Grand Bay, appeared before Chief Magistrate, Candia Carrette-George on the two charges preferred against him by the police. According to the facts of the case presented to the court by Police Prosecutor, Sergeant David Andrew Jr., on August 19, 2023 about 5:00 a.m., Acting\u00a0 Corporal Sachin Titre, and other police officers from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), the Special Service Unit (SSU) and Grand Bay Police Station, went on duty at the residence of Angol armed with a search warrant.<\/p>\n
On arrival, Angol was met and informed by Corporal Titre of the said warrant to search his premises for unlicensed firearms and ammunition which were alleged to have been concealed there. The officers subsequently commenced
\ntheir search. One black plastic bag containing a quantity of what appeared to be alleged cannabis was found on the floor in the living room of the defendant’s house.<\/p>\n
Angol was cautioned and asked about the discovery but he made no reply. During their continued search outside of the home, a number of fully grown cannabis plants in excess of three (3) were seen planted in the ground and in gardening pots under a lumber structure covered with tarpaulin and plastic lit with solar lights.<\/p>\n
Under caution, Angol told the officers, “I was in Guadeloupe, my brother that plant it. I just come out from Guadeloupe. I meet it and I leave it because is [not] my place.”<\/p>\n
In another area on the property, one blue and white sheet containing a quantity of cannabis was also found. Upon conclusion of the search the alleged cannabis plants were uprooted and counted in the presence of Angol and amounted to 152 plants, 47 small gardening pots, the black plastic bag containing the alleged cannabis, the blue and white sheet containing the alleged cannabis, one Spear and Jackson pump action pressure sprayer, seven large gardening pots, two seedling trays, two solar lights and two small solar panels.<\/p>\n
The items seized along with Angol were transported to the Police Headquarters. There the uprooted cannabis plants were weighed and amounted to 70,370 grams, the black plastic bag, 1, 816 grams, and the blue and white sheet containing cannabis amounted to 3,632 grams grams.<\/p>\n
Samples from the alleged cannabis were taken to the Government Analyst for testing and later returned positive.
\nAt the completion of the investigation, charges of cultivation of cannabis and drug trafficking were preferred against Angol. The accused man appeared before the court unrepresented. However, Attorney-at-Law Ronald Charles appeared as an amicus curiae (friend to the court) offered his services to Angol, and presented a plea in mitigation on his behalf.<\/p>\n
Charles pleaded with the court to not impose a custodial sentence against the Montine man due to his health conditions. The attorney posited that Angol was honest and cooperative with the police during their investigation, is of good character, and remorseful of the situation he found himself in.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a 47-year-old father of four adult children who he still assists. Although he had previous convictions, given the time which has [passed] since his last conviction, the court must consider him a first-time offender,\u201d Charles stated.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, Your Honor I am asking for a second chance for this very remorseful hardworking farmer who came before you and did not waste the court\u2019s time. We ask that a fine be imposed with reasonable time to pay.\u201d<\/p>\n
The maximum penalty for cultivation of cannabis and drug trafficking is $150,000.00 or three times the street value or a term of imprisonment of up to 15 years.<\/p>\n
The Chief Magistrate, Candia Carrette-George who presided over said that, given the defendant’s health condition she would not impose a custodial sentence. On both charges, she established a starting point of 35% of the maximum sentence and granted a one-third discount for Angol\u2019s guilty plea, further discount for his good character, remorse, and cooperation with the police.<\/p>\n
On the charge of cultivation of cannabis, he was fined $10,000.00 and $13,000.00 for drug trafficking. The first payment of $5,000.00 was to be paid by August 25, 2023, whilst an additional $5,000.00 is due by October 31, 2023, and the remaining balance of $13,000.00 is due no later than December 31, 2023. In default of any payment, Angol will be imprisoned for six months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Grand Bay man has until December 31, 2023, to complete payment of a $23,000.00 fine which was handed down against him by the Court, following his guilty plea to cultivation of 152 plants of cannabis and drug trafficking 5,448…","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":301286,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,19,77,235,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-307327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-crime-court-law","category-homepage","category-homepage-carousel","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n