Father of four sentenced to one year jail for cocaine charge

A man was today sentenced to one year imprisonment along with a fine of $5000 when he made his second court appearance before Magistrate Judy Latchman charged with possession of a utensil used in connection with smoking cocaine, whereby he improvised a pen cover. Forty – three – year old Keith Tuesday of Herstelling, East Bank Demerara pleaded guilty to the charge. However, on August 09 when the accused made his first court appearance, he pleaded not guilty to the charge and was remanded to prison by the said Magistrate. The allegation states that on August 08 at Alexander Street, Bourda Georgetown, the father of four had one pen cover which he used to smoke the illegal substance. The prosecution’s case is that on the day in question, ranks conducted a search on a room occupied by the accused where the smoking utensil was found. The prosecutor said the pen cover was examined after which they found indications that it was indeed being used for smoking cocaine. The court also heard that the accused was previously convicted for possession of 99 grams of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking. [Royan Abrams]