Man tells court he took ganja for ‘achar’, gets jail time

Mar 09, 2019 News

An unemployed man who claimed to have taken ganja for ‘achar’, found himself behind bars after making an appearance in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts yesterday to answer to a charge of being in possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.
Robert Baijnauth was brought before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly where the charge was read out to him.

Robert Baijnauth

The court heard that on March 6, last, at Charlestown, the accused had in his possession 12 grams of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking. He denied the charge after it was read.
Baijnauth told the court that he mistakenly took the cannabis for achar. “I just pick up the bag from the side of the road and when I open it, the thing look like achar, so I keep it.”
The magistrate then probed for more information by asking if he indeed had the illegal articles in his possession when the police found him and the defendant admitted to same. As such, the magistrate found his explanation to be a guilty plea.
Police prosecutor Christopher Morris presented the facts of the charge, which indicated that on the day in question, at about 18:00 hrs, the police were conducting patrol duties in the area.
They observed Baijnauth, who had a grey haversack on his back, acting in a suspicious manner. As a result, he was stopped and searched. A black plastic bag was found in the haversack, he was carrying.
The plastic bag was opened in his presence and it revealed a quantity of stems, leaves and seeds suspected to be cannabis. Baijnauth was told of the offence, taken into police custody where the narcotics were weighed in his presence and he admitted ownership.
Magistrate Daly sentenced him to three years in prison and a fine of $30,000.

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