Cocaine in SSS tonic…Lone survivor, 12, testifies in drug trafficking case

Sep 19, 2014 News

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A twelve-year-old boy yesterday came face-to-face in court with the man fingered as being responsible for the cocaine-laced SSS tonic that killed members of his immediate family, but which he survived after ingesting.

Yesterday was more than four months after the incident that he faced the accused, Deon Layne, who had been charged with drug trafficking.
Magistrate Judy Latchman patiently walked the boy through a series of questions and deemed him competent enough to give evidence under oath.
He started crying before he could have explained what had happened.
Breaking the silence, the Tucville Secondary School student explained that on May 2, last, himself, his stepfather and younger brother were at home when the accused, whom he pointed out in the prisoners’ docks, came to his stepfather.
He confessed that he had looked through the window and saw them talking, but couldn’t hear what they had said.
The young man recalled that his mother, Simone Pryce, had gone to church and when she returned home, she asked him to fetch a black bag from her bedroom and he did.
He said that his mother called him, his seven-year-old brother, Jacquel Blair, her friend Natasha George and his stepfather Alex Blair to “take shots” of the “SSS tonic.”
The young man told the court that his mother poured it into snap glasses and they all took turns drinking it. He described feeling a “bit funny” when he drank it and added “it had me feeling upset and my stomach felt numb. My head start spinning.”
“My mother and neighbour got up and went into her room. I went into my bedroom and Jacquel was outside. As my mother and her friend were walking to go to the market, my little brother fell down from the chair.”
Demonstrating how his brother fell, the young man said that Jacquel soon began frothing at the mouth. “My stepfather picked him up and started screaming for help. Uncle Danny come in a van and me, my brother and stepfather went straight to the hospital.”
A taxi, he said, came and took his mother and her friend to the hospital. “At the hospital (Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation), they (medical practitioners) came out with stretchers and took us in. After I told the doctors I drank it (SSS tonic) too, they looked at me. I was admitted at the hospital.”
He recalled that he had spent two weeks at the hospital, but everyone else died.
His evidence was being led by Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Prosecutor, Sergeant Vishnu Hunt.
Being questioned by the Prosecutor, the child stated that there was no other SSS tonic in their house and that he did not see anyone else throw anything in the bottle from which his mother gave him something to drink.
The student described the bottle’s size and stated that it was sealed and “full” when his mother opened it. “It didn’t go down far when we drink from it,” he said.
The young man told the court that he later gave a statement to the police and signed it in the presence of his father who also signed. As he finished his testimony, and the accused, who had no lawyer declined to cross examine him, he went straight into the arms of his father and began crying.
The emotional child was led out of the courtroom. The case is set to be called again on September 29 for continuation.
Two police witnesses have testified before the young man and the bottle and contents have been tendered in court.
Layne, a miner of Lot 88 Freeman Street, East La Penitence, is charged with having 252 grammes of cocaine on May 2, at Cokerite Street, East La Penitence, for trafficking purposes. He pleaded not guilty, but the court has kept him remanded ever since his first appearance on July 23, last.
It is said that Layne approached Candacy McGarrell, who was at that time visiting from the United States of America, and asked her to transport some SSS tonic for his brother in the US.
She left Guyana, however, leaving the tonic behind, and the young boy and the four others ingested the substance. The five took ill and were rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), but four of the persons later succumbed. The 12-year-old was the only survivor.
A Post Mortem Examination (PME) later revealed that the persons died from consuming the tonic which was laced with cocaine. The tonic was taken to the police laboratory where it tested positive for cocaine. Investigators extracted the illicit substance and it was weighed.
Following probes by detectives, Layne was later apprehended and charged for drug trafficking. The Prosecution will be calling on eight witnesses to support its case against him.

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