Dominica : Four men arrested on drugs charges over the May Day weekend have all been slapped with fines.
The four are Grayson Xavier of Grand Bay; Donel Mitchell of Morne Bruce; Elijah Raphael of Bellevue and Miguel Douglas of Kings Hill.
Xavier was arrested by the police who were on foot patrol at the Roseau market.
The court was told that he had 58 grams of cannabis in his possession.
He pleaded guilty to the offence and was fined $800.00 to be paid by June 30, 2012, in default of which he gets to spend three months in jail.
Mitchell was fined $500.00, and given until May 30 2012 to pay the fine, or face one month behind bars.
Douglas was fined $600.00 and given until May 31, 2012 to pay up.
He too could do a brief stint in jail if he doesn’t pay up on time.
The police were on foot patrol on Virgin Lane near the Roseau Cathedral when they came across a few young men and searched them after smelling what they thought was marijuana.
Although no drugs were found on the men, the police say they searched the vicinity and found the illegal substance which the young men claimed ownership for.
Raphael on the other hand was caught “red handed” throwing drugs on the prison bus which had prisoners on board and was parked.
He was arrested and brought to the Grand Bay police station where he repeatedly denied the charge.
He was fined $400.00 .
Prosecutor Claude Weekes labeled Raphael’s actions “a clear example of wanton disrespect for authorities.”
While the four were ordered to pay fines, another convicted criminal was not so lucky.
Andre Bernard of Petite Soufriere pleaded guilty to the theft of an Apple I phone belonging to Ethan Mc-Cathy.
Bernard has been jailed for the crime.
He used a cutlass while committing the crime, telling the American “you want to die, you did not give me a cigarette so I steal the phone, when I steal money I will repay you.”
Bernard returned the phone to Mc-Cathy but refused to give him back his money despite repeated requests.
Only last month, Bernard appeared in court on similar charges and was fined.
“You are not learning and since you have returned here so soon, it tells me that you want to go somewhere so I will so do,” the magistrate told Bernard who is only 20 years but has a string of convictions.
“You can’t go uninvited to people’s home take their belongings and then even pull cutlass on them, you are young and have time to reflect on your actions, you can change your life around,” she said.
He was sentenced to four months jail on the charge of stealing and four months on the charge of intimidation to run consecutively.
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