$1,000 fine for Venezuelan held with ‘weed’

TWO Venezuelan women, temporarily residing in Trinidad, were yesterday each granted bail in the sum of $10,000 with a surety and a Venezuelan man was fined $1,000 “forthwith,” when they appeared before Magistrate Betsy-Ann Lambert-Peterson on charges of possession of .1 of a gramme of marijuana. Luz Stella Delgardo, of Ninth Street, Barataria, Yolimar Hamilton, of 38 Carlton Avenue, St James and Geronimo Brazon had appeared in court on Monday and had been remanded in custody pending tracing. When they re-appeared yesterday, Delgardo and Hamilton pleaded not guilty and Brazon submitted a guilty plea. In his bail application, their attorney, Ravi Rajcoomar, told Lambert-Peterson that Delgardo was in the country on official business. Her husband, he said, had been a kidnap victim whose body had been burnt beyond recognition. As a result, he added, Delgardo had been brought here to identify him. Hamilton, Rajcoomar said, was a student and a translator. 

Following the granting of bail, Delgardo was also ordered to report to the Barataria Police Station every Monday between 7 am and 3 pm. Hamilton was ordered to do the same at the St James Police Station. Both women will re-appear in court on December 23. Brazon, 40, was subjected to a summary trial. The court heard that the illegal narcotic had been found on a table in the living room of the Barataria house where Delgardo resided, following a search of the premises by PC Mitra Ramsumair and a party of officers attached to the Barataria Police Station on December 13. The three were arrested and taken to the Barataria Police Station, where they were subsequently charged. Rajcoomar told the magistrate that the marijuana was for Brazon’s personal use and that he had intended to plead guilty at his first appearance in court. However, Rajcoomar added, he could not speak English and there was no translator in the court at the time. Lambert-Peterson handed down her sentence and Brazon will serve a term of six months hard labour in default of payment of the fine.