Yambou resident imprisoned for two weeks for cocaine

A man who said that he found cocaine on the ground at Biabou was last week jailed for two weeks, after being asked if he was a “scavenger”.

Nixon Archibald told Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne-Matthias that he went to Biabou sometime after 9 p.m. on Wednesday, August 30 to buy bread and chicken and sat down to eat after which he saw a Tic Tac container on the ground and picked it up.

At 12:15 a.m. on Thursday, August 31, officers attached to the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) were on patrol in the Yambou area when they saw Archibald and demanded a search of his person.

A search of his right back pocket turned up a small transparent container with rocks of cocaine wrapped in foil paper. When weighed, the cocaine amounted to 1.6 grams.

He was later charged with possession of an illegal drug.

When he appeared in court on September 4, he pleaded guilty and asked that he be made to pay a fine.

Browne-Matthias asked him if he had anything else to say and Archibald told the court that he had found the drug.

“Your story is so stupid, it makes no sense,” Browne-Matthias responded, while senior prosecutor Adolphus Delpesche asked if Archibald was the only person to have ever sat in the area where he said he found the cocaine.

He was asked if he was a “scavenger” and why a big man his age was walking around and picking up garbage off the street.

“I prefer people come clean,” Browne-Matthias said, before imposing a two-week sentence on Archibald. The defendant’s mother was in court and began crying before leaving.