Man from Chateaubelair fined on marijuana charge

A Chateaubelair man who told police “me get a two pound ah weed ya” was fined $1,530 after pleading guilty to the drug charge.

Milran Browne,27, appeared at the Serious Offences Court on July, 3, before Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne charged that on July 1, 2023 at the Grenadines Wharf, he had in his possession a controlled drug to wit 1,266 grammes of cannabis with intent to supply to another.

The facts as read in court are that on Saturday, July 1, at about 10:40 a.m, PC 366 Cain and other officers were at the Grenadines wharf in Kingstown. PC Cain was stationed at Gate 8 which is the security checkpoint for persons entering the wharf.

While there, the officer observed a silver motor vehicle, PW209 approaching the port; he signalled the driver to stop and the driver complied.

Cain approached the vehicle and requested a search.

He asked the defendant if he had anything illegal, and Browne said “Yes officer, me get a two pound ah weed ya.” The officer asked the defendant to hand over the said drug, and Browne handed over the packages to PC Caine.

Browne was then arrested.

The magistrate referred to the sentencing guidelines, and found that based on the quantity of the cannabis, the offence fell into category three.

She started at a non-custodial sentence and considered a fine of $2700.

When the aggravating factors of the offence were considered, none was found.

However, the defendant’s cooperation with the police weighed in his favour and when weighed with the aggravating factors, resulted in a $100 deduction from his fine.

Aggravating factors of the defendant were also considered, none was found.

Mitigating of him were that he had no previous convictions and he is still relatively young.

The mitigating factors outweighed the aggravating ones and his fine was reduced by a further $300.

The magistrate then took into consideration that Browne had pled guilty, and his fine went down by one-third, or $766.66.

This brought the remaining fine to $1533.34 which was rounded off, leaving Browne to pay a total of $1,530.

The defendant was ordered to pay the sum by September, 28, in default of which he will serve a prison term of seven months.