Man fined for ganja seeds

A Santa Cruz man who changed a not guilty plea after almost five years was yesterday ordered to pay a fine of $4000 when he appeared before Magistrate Andrew Stroude at the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court.

Lalchan Ramphary of 11 Foster Road, Upper Santa Cruz was charged on February 5, 1998 with the possession of 300 grammes of marijuana seeds by PC Herman Narace of the Port-of-Spain CID.  Narace was then attached to the Santa Cruz Police Station.  Ramphary had then entered a not guilty plea. From the witness stand, Narace told the court that he, accompanied by other officers including PC Primdass of the Morvant Police Station, went to what was assumed to be Ramphary’s home at La Pastora Road, Santa Cruz to search the premises for arms and ammunition.  He said they knocked on the door and Ramphary let them into the “one room apartment” where they found the  seeds on a table.  Ramphary was arrested and taken to the Santa Cruz Police Station and was subsequently charged.

Stroude then asked Ramphary if Narace’s account of the events was true, to which the 44-year-old man replied “no”.  He told the magistrate that he lived with his parents and the premises that was searched was an abandoned government building.  He said the building had no doors and no table and added that he had no idea where the officers had found the marijuana seeds.  According to Ramphary, he was in the building when the officers came and asked the whereabouts of a man known as “Fish” and he told them that the man was not there.  He said the officers then showed him the seeds, handcuffed him and made him kneel on the floor.  He pleaded with them, he said, to allow him to inform his parents that he was arrested but the officers told him that when his parents missed him they would know he was in jail.

Shortly after PC Primdass took the stand he was asked to step down because attorney Joseph Melville, who was is in the courtroom, offered to represent Ramphary.  Acting on the advice of Melville, Ramphary pleaded guilty after the charge was again read by Stroude. In his bid to secure a lenient sentence for his client, Melville asked Stroude to strongly consider the fact that Ramphary had made a confession.  He said since “too much” of the court’s time had not been wasted, the lateness of  Ramphary’s admission of guilt should not be held against him. He added that his client’s initial not guilty plea had stemmed from fear because he “did not have a lily white record.”  In response, Stroude expressed appreciation for Melville’s lengthy speech.  In handing down the sentence he said he had considered the fact that Ramphary had “no brushes with the law since 1999.”  Ramphary was allowed 30 days to pay the fine or serve 12 months in prison with hard labour.