25 in court after Great Race- ‘Weedfest’ in Tobago

IN THE aftermath of Saturday’s Great Race festivities at Store Bay, about 25 people, including several Trinidadians, appeared in the Scarborough Magistrates’ First Court yesterday on charges ranging from obscene language to marijuana possession to a being armed with a weapon, in a straight all-day marathon session which ended at 3 pm. Senior Magistrate Betsy-Ann Peterson commended court staff, including note-takers etc, for their unstinting service having gone without lunch. It was a packed public gallery with people spilling over on the outside, crowding the corridors. At the end of proceedings, several people were fined, and in one case a man was jailed, for marijuana possession; while others were fined for being armed with a weapon, as well as the use of obscene language.

Several persons are to reappear in court today for sentencing. Most of the defendants were held when police mounted a road-block exercise along the Milford Road near Store Bay on Saturday morning, while others were actually held during the Great Race festivities in the Store Bay area. Several were arrested during police exercises in other parts of the island from Thursday. Hayden George was jailed for six months with hard labour after he admitted being in possession of six grammes of marijuana while he was a passenger in a car that was stopped by police. He was charged by Detective PC Marlon Robley of the Scarborough CID. The court heard that George had two previous convictions for a similar offence, the last being in February this year. “I was truly a smoker in the wrong place at the wrong time. I would just like to ask the mercy of the court,” he pleaded. The Magistrate responded with a jail term. In another matter, Brent Edwards was fined $700 for being in possession of an offensive weapon, namely a knife, which was concealed in his pants waist.

Trinidadian Lennox Deonanand was smoking an unusually long cigarette on the Store Bay Beach. When confronted by police and searched, a further quantity of the illegal herb was found in a small transparent plastic bag, the court was told by Prosecutor, Ag Insp Fitzroy Gray. He was fined $850 and given 21 days to pay, failing which he will have to serve six weeks in jail with hard labour. Phillip Lavareaux, of Tabaquite, was similarly fined for having .5 grammes of the marijuana. Keron Moses, 18, of Calder Hall, Scarborough, was fined $700 (or six weeks in jail) for having a knife hidden on his person. Another 18-year-old, Mathew Moreno, represented by defence attorney Lennox Phillips, was fined $2,500 (or four months hard labour) for having marijuana at Store Bay. He paid $700 immediately and was given 14 days to pay the rest. Grover Thomas, of Chaguanas, was fined $700 (or six weeks in jail) for having 2.5 grammes of marijuana at the same location. He was given 14 days to pay the sum. Anthony Agard admitted having 1.5 grammes of the illegal herb and was similarly fined $700.