JERMAINE Carter on Friday was found not guilty for trafficking in narcotics by City Magistrate Judy Latchman. Carter was charged with the offence that said on July 4 at Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri, East Bank Demerara, he had had in his possession 7.057 kilogrammes of cocaine contained in Kerrigold packets.
During procedural checks, his suitcases were sniffed by dogs, which detected the presence of narcotics.

On July 8, he made his appearance before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry and the case was transferred to Magistrate Judy Latchman for report and fixture.

On that day, Attorney–at–Law, Adrian Thompson, appeared for the defendant. He told the court that his client denied having any illegal substance in his suitcase and said that items from Carter’s suitcase were missing.

During his submission yesterday, Police Prosecutor Vishnu Hunt told the court that, the prosecution respectfully submits that it is proven that at the material time, the defendant was in possession and had knowledge and control of the substance. He added that the prosecution has proven that by the defendant in the evidence admitted that he packed his suitcase himself.

During the ruling, Magistrate Latchman, revealed the facts which stated that on the day in question the defendant was an outgoing passenger at CJIA. She added that he had just married in Guyana and was destined for John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The court heard that at that time, the defendant had two suitcases, which were only zipped up and had no padlocks on them. The defendant’s flight was slated for 01:10 hours in the morning and he managed to check in the suitcases. They were already scanned and had only to be placed in the luggage compartment of the plane.

Sometime later, Diesel, a police dog sniffed and reacted to what was in the defendant’s suitcases. When one of the suitcases was opened, three packets of Kerry gold milk powder were seen and the other suitcase of the defendant was also opened.
Once again, three packets of Kerry Gold milk powder were discovered. These packets were punctured by Diesel’s handler, special constable Leitch and substance suspected to be cocaine was found in the packets.

The substance was analysed and found to be cocaine. He maintained his innocence and said that he packed his suitcase himself.
The magistrate also took into consideration that the suitcases were without padlocks and had been out of the defendant’s sight for some time; it was conveyed and held and therefore could have easy access by anyone. Hence the court is not satisfied, the defendant knew of the existence of the drug, however, in these circumstances the court found him not guilty of the offence.