Roger Simon, known as ‘Goat man’, a 60-year-old gold miner of Lot 25 Fifth Avenue, Bartica, Essequibo River, was on Wednesday sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for trafficking cannabis.

Simon was sentenced at the Bartica Magistrate’s Court by His Worship Magistrate Teriq Mohammed. The charge was laid under Section 5(1)(a)(i) and Section 4(1)(a)(i) of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Control) Act, Chapter 10:10.

He had first appeared before Magistrate Mohammed earlier this year, where he pleaded not guilty to charges of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking, and possession of narcotics. The court subsequently found him guilty and handed down the custodial sentence on Wednesday after a trial.

Simon is no stranger to the courts. In 2022, he was charged along with two others for trafficking cannabis in Bartica. Before that, in 2017, he was acquitted of 12 counts of murder and seven counts of manslaughter in relation to the infamous February 17, 2008 Bartica massacre in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni).