Page 336 - Magistrates Conference 2019

APPLICATION OF ABSOLUTE GOOD

CHARACTER

■ Scenario (1):

The defendant, was charged for possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. He was a Prison’s Officer

for 25 years and had no previous convictions and no immoral conduct or any reprehensible behaviour against

him. On 1 December, 2010, at around 6:00 a.m. he was walking to work at State Prison on Runaway Street,
st
Basseterre when he was approached by PC Dread who identified himself. PC Dread told the defendant that he

observed that when he (PC Dread) called out to him, that the defendant took out a brown bag from inside his

jersey and dropped it on the ground. PC Dread retrieved the brown bag and opened it in front of the defendant.

It contained cannabis sativa which amounted to 74.9 grammes and the defendant was arrested and charged.

The defendant gave evidence. His defence was that the police fabricated the evidence against him. At the time

in question he was on his way to work when he was stopped and searched by the police. They took up a brown

bag from the side of the street, 3 feet away, and asked him what was in it. They claimed that the brown bag

belonged to him. The defendant never saw the bag before and did not know what the bag contained. He was

taken to the Police Station and only when he was about to be charged, then he found out that the brown bag

contained drugs.