$500,000 fine, jail for drug peddlar

Mar 29, 2014 News

…paramour walks free

Moments after his girlfriend walked out of a city courtroom a free woman, a 34-year-old North Ruimveldt man was slapped with a four-year jail sentence and a $500,000 fine for drug peddling.

Convicted: Jermaine Scuffle

Earlier this year, a party of police ranks found 605 grams of marijuana at Jermaine’s Scuffle’s Lot 3048 North Ruimveldt, Georgetown home. At the time his girlfriend, Marcia James, was spending some time with him.
After the January 14 bust, the couple was taken into custody and brought before the courts to be indicted for drug trafficking. They, however, denied the charges and a trial got underway before city Magistrate, Ann McLennan.
The Prosecution spearheaded by Corporal Deniro Jones, however, only managed to secure a conviction for Scuffle since they failed to establish the elements of the offence against the woman who the court subsequently exonerated of the charge.
As the Magistrate summarized the evidence before handing down her decision, she recalled testimonies from witnesses.
She recalled that a party of police ranks led by Sergeant Houston ventured to the house and conducted a search on the premises. Whilst checking a cupboard in the kitchen, one police rank noticed a hole in the wall.
The rank noticed a transparent bag concealed inside and upon checking, he unearthed a quantity of seeds, leaves and stems. The same bag reportedly had a smaller green plastic bag which had more small zip lock bags containing the substance.
The court heard that when the substance was shown to the two, James remained silent while Scuffle responded, “It belongs to me and not my girlfriend”.
The substance was weighed at the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) and they were cautioned again. There again, Scuffle insisted that it was his.
She said that the court is satisfied that Scuffle made his confession statement voluntarily and that the woman indeed bore no knowledge of the illicit substance.
McLennan stated that she was of the opinion that the confession statement was voluntarily given.
She said that in order for the Prosecution to secure a conviction for the charge they must establish possession, knowledge, custody and control of the substance.
“The court is satisfied that the Prosecution has showed that the substance is marijuana. The court is also satisfied that the marijuana is the property of the number one accused (Scuffle).”

Freed: Marcia James

Magistrate McLennan expounded upon the way the substance was packaged off into little zip lock bags stating that the court was also sure it was for drug peddling.
She said that from the Prosecution’s case, it was clear that Scuffle had possession, knowledge and control of the substance.
Meanwhile, owing to the fact that the woman, James, does not live at the house where it was found, it shows that she had no knowledge of the drug, the Magistrate said.
McLennan informed the Prosecution that it had established the elements of the offence against Scuffle but had failed to do so against James and offered him a chance to address the court during mitigation.
He said, “You find me guilty and I am asking you to be lenient your worship.”
Upon sentencing Scuffle, he was told that coupled with his jail sentence, he will also pay a fine of $544,500 – three times the street value of marijuana – for being found guilty of trafficking the illicit substance.
The constitution provides for persons convicted of drug trafficking to serve a minimum of three years and a maximum of five years’ imprisonment. The jail term is also accompanied by a fine with the minimum of $30,000 or an alternative of three times the street value of the drug.