![Jermaine Carter. [iNews' Photo]](https://i0.wp.com/www.inewsguyana.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Carter-1.jpg)
It was the prosecution’s case that Carter on July 4 at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri, East Bank Demerara; he had had in his possession 7.057 Kilogrammes of cocaine contained in Kerrigold milk packets.
During procedural checks, his suitcases were sniffed by dogs, which detected the presence of narcotics.
On July 8, he made his appearance before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry and the case was transferred before Magistrate Judy Latchman for report and fixtures.
On that day, Attorney – at – Law, Adrian Thompson, entered in appearance for the defendant. He told the Court that his client denied having any illegal substance in his suitcase and items from Carter’s suitcase were missing.
Police Prosecutor Vishnu Hunt unsuccessfully argued that Carter was in possession and had knowledge and control of the substance, since he admitted to packing the suitcase himself.
During the ruling Magistrate Latchman revealed that Carter had just married in Guyana and was destined to John F, Kennedy International Airport.
The Court heard that at that time, the defendant had two suitcases, which were only zipped up and had no padlocks. The defendant’s flight was slated for 01:10 in the morning and he managed to check in the suitcases. They were already scanned and only had to be placed in the luggage department on the plane.
Sometime later, a Police dog sniffed and reacted to what was in the defendant’s suitcases. When one of the suitcases was opened, three packets of Kerry gold milk powder were found and the other suitcase of the defendant was also opened. Once again, three packets of Kerry Gold milk powder were discovered. These packets were punctured by the dog’s handler, Special Constable Leitch and the substance suspected to be cocaine were found in the packets.
Magistrate Latchman said that while she is satisfied that cocaine was found in the defendant’s suitcases, she is not satisfied that he knew of its existence in the suitcases.
The Magistrate also took into consideration that the suitcases were without padlocks and out of the defendant’s sight for some time. As such, he was found not guilty.
brudda andrew yuh agree wid meh eh on dis one..in a nutshell..de bana come get married tried to make a hustlse like others do and got caught..his lawyer is very clever..hats of to his liar not lawyer
really? u travel de world over? hmmmm dont let me tell u…u dont..i leave it at that..u might travel yep but leave ur suitcase open..hey..read my blog again..read read read..then..try to understand what u reading..u dont now have to lock or leave ur suitcase open coz u have nothing to hide..de bana get he lawyer fuh seh suh…yep there is a ring at de airport..but hear this…like i said.read read read till u understand…de dumbbell magistrate took their word for it..she never called not one from the airport ..never told not one to investigate…de bana get away wid murder as they would say..he very lucky to get this stupid magistrate who does not know the laws really..
what a JOKE is right,, any fool would lock they bags, but bro is GT,,
I have to disagree with you.. I travel all over the world and I do not lock my suitcases cause I have nothing to hide… a few times from Guyana I returned I observed my suitcase was ransacked… I want to believe like the judge there is a ring at the airport and innocent people can be caught up with this…. she should however order a proper investigation or they need to set up a sting operation to link the ring between Cheddi Jagan airport and JFK …
what a joke….he got away with murder they would say…latchman suh stupid she fall for all sorts of crap..po thing she does not know any different..de bana wilfully leff he suitcase without a lock…even with a lock on your suitcase and someone wants to put drugs in it they can..the big dummy magistrate does not know this..maybe she never listened to the tape recordings of former police commissioner winsto flek an pnc brazil wille how they were planning to plan drugs pon a lady when she arrived at the airport..if u have no lock on your suitcase it means you telling security i have nothing to hide so trust me …
now !!! will there be an investigation of airport authorities because that drug didnt get in those suitcases by itself..if he ent put it then its airport people..u bet no investigation will be done on airport employess..meh brudda get away with it