Bajan pleads guilty to cannabis possession

Barbadian national, Kevin Williams, was lucky to be freed of an ammunition charge at the Serious Offences Court. However, fellow countryman Edward Gibbons was not so lucky.{{more}}

Chief Magistrate Sonya Young sentenced Gibbons, 41, Fisherman, to two and half years imprisonment on Tuesday, July 28, at the Serious Offences Court for possession of 75,818 grams (167 pounds) of cannabis on May 18, 2009 at Fanny Bay in Chateaubelair. He pleaded guilty to the charge. Gibbons was also found guilty of entering the state without notifying authorities. For this, he was sentenced to 10 days in jail. A charge of ammunition possession against him was however dropped.

His counterpart, Williams, was freed after Magistrate Young upheld a no-case submission by his attorney Ronald Marks. The lawyer told the court that Williams was only a passenger on board the boat that belonged to Gibbons. Marks said that a search done on the boat by Coast Guard Officers, which turned up six rounds of .303 ammunition, was not done in the presence of his client. “The charge does not provide a nexus between my client and the bullets…this case should be discontinued against my client since the prosecution did not make out a Prima Facie case,” Marks submitted.

In Gibbon’s evidence to the court, he said that they ended up in the territorial waters of St Vincent after drifting for over two hours from Barbados. “I never intended to come here. It was because the boat experienced problems while fishing in Barbados,” Gibbons said.

Gibbons explained that they left Barbados at about 5am and experienced the engine difficulties at about 11am the same day. It was while fishing, Gibbons said, that he saw birds flocking to one area. “Normally when I see this, I know that plenty of fish is in that area…but when I got close, I saw a number of parcels floating and I picked up the ones that were not wet and it was soon after I developed engine problems,” Gibbons explained.

Under cross-examination, prosecutor Inspector Nigel Butcher accused Gibbons of lying to the court and said that he can’t be deemed credible. “It is very strange that he owned everything except the ammunition…I am asking this court not to believe him. He lies about everything,” Butcher stated.

In his client’s defense, lawyer, Sylvester Raymond-Cadette said that the boat was in distress and he could not fathom why the Coast Guard officers did not give correct facts and accused them of having something to hide.

Magistrate Young said that she did not believe Gibbons’ story about the birds and fish and that he had come here to collect the marijuana and “unfortunately for him, that’s when he experienced the problems,” Young stated.

Gibbons’ boat, valued at $31,500 was also forfeited.(KW)