Prosecution drops cocaine charges against two

BEFORE a single witness could take the stand, prosecutor in the Serious Offences Court Inspector Adolphus Delpesche withdrew a matter against Dominican Jones Telemaque{{more}} and Vincentian Glenory Pierre for possession of 31 kilograms of cocaine.

Delpesche, a trained lawyer, made the decision on Tuesday this week, on the grounds that the evidential test, as detailed in the prosecutors’ code, had failed.

He, therefore, withdrew the charges from both men, stating that there was insufficient evidence to sustain the charges.

Police stated that on July 11, 2011, at Morne Ronde, both men were found on a motor vessel called “Oshantie” with 31 kilograms of cocaine.

Both men pleaded not guilty to the charge.

During the seizure, another Dominican man, Clement Pierre, was shot and killed in an exchange of fire with members of the Coast Guard.

Pierre had told the media that he was only arrested on cocaine charges because he witnessed the shooting death of the Dominican man.

Speaking to SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday, Delpesche said after perusing the file and having discussions with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on the matter, the decision was taken that the prosecution will not be able to sustain the charges because of the insufficiency of evidence.

“…Going to trial with it would have been tantamount to wasting the court’s and precious judicial time. To me, that would have been persecution instead of prosecution because we could not prove the case…,” Delpesche pointed out.

He noted that even if he had proceeded with the trial, the prosecution would not have been able to get past a no-case submission, if that was done by the defence.

“Under those circumstances, the honourable thing to do as a prosecutor is withdraw,” he said.

Counsel for both men, Queen’s Counsel Carlyle Dougan commended Delpesche for making such a decision. Counsel Carlos James also appeared with Dougan for the defense.

Telemaque, who was also charged with entering the state illegally, was at that time fined $500 fortwith. He is expected to be deported.

However, Pierre remains on remand in relation to another drug charge.

In a strange twist, just two weeks ago, on Monday, October 17, two masked men broke into the Chateaubelair home of Carmen Alexander, the mother of Glenroy “Buju” Pierre, demanding cocaine.

“Wey de coke is? Buju tek we boss coke, and now we want it back,” the gunmen are reported to have said.

Carmen, however, denied any knowledge of what the gunmen referred to and asked for them to leave her alone.

Inspector Delpesche came under fire earlier this year from Commissioner of Police Keith Miller after he withdrew a case in which Rohan Edwards of Rose Bank was charged with possession of one bomb of cannabis on April 18, 2011.

Delpesche, at the time, withdrew the matter because it did not pass the public interest test.