TWENTY–four–year-old Sherwin Stanford of Lot 101 President’s College Road, Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara, was on Monday refused bail on a narcotics charge by Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.Stanford pleaded not guilty to the charge, which alleged that on Friday, June 5, 2015, at Arau Landing, he had in his possession 300 grammes of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking.
Stanford’s lawyer, Jerome Khan told the court that his client is a miner, who has a pending matter before the court and was placed on bail for that offence; because of this, he was targeted by the police who pinned the charge on him.
Khan explained that his client had no knowledge of the drug, neither was he present in the building when the search was conducted.
Police Prosecutor Bharat Mangru told the court that on the day in question, the police acting on information went to the defendant’s home and carried out a search on his presence. During the search, a black bag was found on a bed; the bag was found to contain leaves, seeds and stems of the illegal plant, cannabis sativa. Consequently, Stanford was arrested and charged.
The prosecutor objected to bail on the grounds of the seriousness and prevalence of the offence, further elaborating that the special reasons raised by the attorney were not sufficiently convincing for bail to be granted. He also cited the variation in defence counsel’s version of the incident.
The miner was remanded to prison and the case was transferred to the Kamarang Magistrates Court for Monday, June 15, 2015.