– a magistrate had sentenced him to jail; imposed a $254.4M fine
THE full sitting of the Supreme Court last Friday freed 45-year old Vishnu Bridgelall called ‘Halfa’ of trafficking in narcotics and set aside a conviction by a magistrate who had jailed the convicted man for 10 years and fined him $254.4M which represented the value of the cocaine allegedly found in fish glue.

FREED: Vishnu Bridgelall c/d ‘Halfa’ leaving the court on Friday last.

But the court found that the magistrate erred in finding the accused guilty of possession.

Bridgelall and three others were charged with the offence of having 20 kilogrammes of cocaine in their possession for the purpose of trafficking which was said to have been committed on Wednesday May 16, 2007, at Charlotte Street, Enterprise, East Coast Demerara.

The two charges had accused them firstly of having a narcotic in their possession, that is to say 20 kilogrammes of cocaine, for the purpose of trafficking.

The other charge had accused them of having 86.5 kilogrammes of cocaine, for the purpose of trafficking.

Bridgelall who normally buys and sells fish glue for export, had in a statement said he heard that a man at Enterprise had some glue to sell so he hired Thakoor and Khan and they went to enterprise.

He added, “We arrived there about 11.30 a.m. We met the fella who selling the glue. His name is Percy.

“As we were discussing price in the yard, I see two minibuses pull up and some men jump out and said that they are CANU (Customs Anti Narcotics Unit) officers and Percy asked me to open the gate for them. They said to us they come to look for drugs and I said I don’t know anything about any drugs. I told the officer I only just come a few minutes ago to buy glue.”

After allegedly finding cocaine in the glue, the officer charged Bridgelall, Chandrika Chattergoon c/d Percy, Thakoor Persaud and Azad Khan with having cocaine in their possession.

The Magistrate dismissed the charge against Persaud and Khan but found Bridgelall and Chattergoon guilty.

Bridgelall was fined $48,000,000 in one charge and $206, 400,000 plus five years on each charge, with an order that the sentences should run consecutively.

Chattergoon was fined $10,000 together with 4 years imprisonment.
Chattergoon did not appeal.
Senior Counsel Mr. Bernard DeSantos had argued the appeal on behalf of Bridgelall and got the judges, Chief Justice Ian Chang, S.C. and Justice Rishi Persaud to agree that the magistrate erred in finding that Bridgelall was in possession of cocaine. The appeal against the appellant Bridgelall was allowed. Conviction and sentences were set aside. Bridgelall was awarded costs in the sum of $2,000.

Lawyers who appeared for the appellant and the other defendant in the magistrate court were Mr. Anil Nandlall, Mr. Vic Puran and Mr. Sanjeev Datadin. Mr. De Santos did not appear in the small Court.