Jury frees doctor on trafficking charge

A mixed jury yesterday freed a medical doctor, a businessman and a taxi-driver who claimed the police had framed and charged them with trafficking 29 kilos of marijuana. After deliberating for just over 75 minutes, the jury of five women and four men told Justice Joan Charles that Dr Brian Connel, businessman Ken Mattias and taxi driver Ruy Henville were not guilty as charged. Justice Charles ordered that Henville’s taxi be returned to him and Dr Connel’s passport, which was seized by police, be returned to him. Dr Connel expressed relief the trial was over. He said it was a long journey and he had learnt a lot from the experience. He said the experience had impacted on all aspects of his life, especially the spiritual. He believed it had made him a better man, and was happy it was all over now. During the trial, Dr Connel completed his internship at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital and the Mt Hope Hospital and is now a resident doctor at Mt Hope.

The men were represented by attorneys Keith Scotland, Yaseen Ahmed and Michelle Solomon, while State attorney Alexander Prince prosecuted. Dr Connel of Church Street in Kelly Village, Caroni and Mattias, 32, owner of a dry goods store of La Solita Road in Kelly Village, Caroni, were passengers in a car driven by Henville, 45, of Mason Road in Tobago, when stopped by police near Cyril Bay on the North Coast Road on February 3, 2001. PCs Hayden Simon and Wayne Praimdass testified they saw the men coming out of bushes and putting the bags of marijuana into the trunk of the car. The court heard that when the men saw the police vehicle, they hurriedly got into the car and attempted to drive off, but were stopped by the police. The police said that a fourth man, who was in the car ran away, was not pursued. According to Simon, when they found the two bags of marijuana in the trunk, Mattias remarked, “All yuh eh see nothing yet, this is just a little dust.” The police said this happened at about 4 pm.

The three men claimed that they were heading to Maracas when the police pulled them over shortly after midday for a traffic offence. They said while this was happening, Simon went into the bushes, there were shots and he returned with the two bags of marijuana. The police were about to let them go when another police vehicle pulled up and the policemen of that vehicle had a conversation with the others. After that conversation, the trio was ordered to the Maracas Police Station and then taken to the Barataria Police Station where they were charged with the offence. Henville said he was plying his taxi on the Maracas route when he picked up Connel, who was going to Maracas Beach and Mattias, who was going to visit relatives in Maracas.