THIRTY-EIGHT-year-old Jeremy Stuffle, of Lot 3048 North Ruimveldt, Georgetown and his girlfriend Marcia James (no address given) appeared Friday before Magistrate Ann McLennan to hear her decision after their drug possession cases had been tried in that magistrate’s court.Stuffle was found guilty as charged, and was fined $544,500 besides having a four-year jail term imposed on him, but the case against James was discharged.

Stuffle and James had first appeared before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, and had pleaded not guilty to the charges, particulars of which said that on January 21 last, they had in their possession 605 grammes of cannabis sativa (marijuana) for the purpose of trafficking in narcotics.

The prosecution was led by Police Corporal Dinero Jones, and the duo was unrepresented. The prosecution had contended that on the day in question, police, acting on information, had conducted a search at Stuffle’s home. They had entered by the northern door, which was opened by James, and shortly thereafter, Stuffle had appeared from the bedroom, and the ranks had informed the couple that they had come to conduct a search for narcotics.

Two of the ranks searching the kitchen had noticed a hole in the wall. Further search yielded a transparent bag which contained a quantity of Ziplock bags with the illegal substance inside.

The police find had been shown to both accused, and during the caution, Stuffle had said the substance belonged to him, and not his girlfriend, whilst James had remained silent.

They were both taken to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters, along with the prohibited substance, and during questioning, Stuffle had admitted that the drugs belonged to him, and that his girlfriend had no knowledge of it.

Magistrate Ann McLennan ruled that the prosecution has proved all the elements for the offence for which Stuffle was charged, and that the court was satisfied that he had knowledge and control of the illegal substance, with intention to traffick.

In regard to James, the court had found it was difficult to find her guilty of the offence, since the prosecution had failed to prove all the elements in the charge against her. Therefore, she was found not guilty, and the case against her was dismissed.

The fine levied by the court was equivalent to the street value of $300 per gramme of cannabis multiplied by the amount of cannabis then multiplied by three.