Joseph Adams, a 31-year-old father of four, was on Thursday found not guilty of trafficking 492 grams of marijuana on April 24, 2020. A businessman in the transportation sector, Adams had been on trial before Linden Magistrate Wanda Fortune.
The facts of the case are that Adams was taking to Lethem a bus owned by his brother, which had been in a workshop in Campbellville, Georgetown. At the checkpoint at Mabura Police Outpost, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), he was pulled over by the Police and told they had received a tip-off that the bus was transporting marijuana.
There were also several passengers on the bus.
A search was conducted, and the alleged narcotics were found in the bonnet of the minibus. Adams told his lawyer, Jerome Khan, that the bus was brought to him at his home by the mechanic, and he immediately left for Lethem after collecting the passengers, and did not check the bonnet.
During the trial, Khan explained that none of the civilian passengers was called to give evidence. Instead, he said, the prosecution called three Police witnesses, who all claimed that his client gave a caution statement in which he admitted that the marijuana belonged to him.
However, this was challenged by the defence, who argued that no contemporaneous written note was made of the oral statement signed and initialled by Adams.
Additionally, Khan argued that the narcotic was not weighed and marked the same day in the presence of his client at the Mabura Police Outpost, but the following day at Mackenzie Police Station, raising doubts on the actual quantum or security of the rest.
As such, he contended that it would be unsafe to convict the father of four in a case in which there is conflicting evidence, no corroboration by civilian witnesses, and no caution station tendered marked and admitted into evidence.
Adams had been out on $75,000 bail pending the hearing and determination of his trial.
