TWO men were on, Thursday, August 08, 2019, sentenced to three and a half years behind bars and fined $11.7M each, while their co-accused was freed from a cocaine trafficking charge.

Aundre Singh, 57; Clifford Gouveia, 66, and O’Neil Charan, 39 were on trial before Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
The charge stated that on October 3, 2018, at the Rupert Craig Highway in the vicinity of the Kitty seawall, between Pere Street and Queen Street, the men had 5.582 kilograms of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.

After months of being on trial, Singh and Gouveia were found guilty of the charge and were each sentenced to three and a half years behind bars and fined $11.7M each. Meanwhile, co-accused Charan was freed from the charge due to insufficient evidence.

Attorney-at-law Bernard DaSilva, represented Gouveia. In his plea of mitigation the attorney asked the court to impose the minimum penalty onto his client since he was a diabetic and was also suffering from hypertension.

Attorney-at-law George Thomas, who represented Singh, told the court that his client was suffering from a medical condition which required constant visits to the hospital.
Custom Anti-Narcotic Unit (CANU) Prosecutor, Narissa Leander, asked the court for the maximum sentence to be imposed on the defendants citing the nature of the offence and the quantity of the drugs found.

Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus in handing down the sentence took into consideration the effect the drugs have on users and the impact on society, and the fact that the men had full control and knowledge of the illegal substance.