Attorney Keith Collins confirmed this week that he has filed an appeal on behalf of Elon Dixon, who was convicted last month for possession of cocaine with intent to supply.
Magistrate Margaret Ramsay-Hale sentenced Dixon to 15 years imprisonment after finding that he possessed the 150.4 grams of cocaine (5.3 ounces) found in his kitchen cabinet in an empty bottle of body building supplement.
Dixon had denied the offence since his arrest in May 2003. A fireman at the time and bodybuilding competitor, he was first tried in April 2004.
Magistrate Grace Donalds found him guilty and sentenced him to ten years imprisonment.
He appealed to the Grand Court in April 2004. His conviction was overturned following successful arguments by Howard Hamilton QC, instructed by Mr. Collins.
The Crown then appealed that decision to the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal. In July 2005, the Court ordered a retrial after hearing arguments from Mr. Hamilton and Crown Counsel Andre Mon Desir.
The Court president said at the time that the order for retrial was in the interest of justice and the retrial should take place in front of a different magistrate.
Mr. Collins indicated that he would be applying for bail for Dixon pending appeal.
The defendant had said that other people had access to his home, including a relative described as a convicted drug dealer.
During the retrial, Mr. Hamilton had asked he court to consider the workings of the mind of someone who deals in drugs and to say that no self-respecting dealer would keep drugs on his own premises.
In her judgment, the magistrate said no self-respecting dealer would put his drugs on somebody else’s premises and risk their detection and possible destruction.
The kitchen cabinet was one that the defendant accessed everyday to retrieve one or another of bottles of supplements, the magistrate pointed out. She called it inconceivable that some third party would put a valuable an illegal commodity in someone else’s house, in a cupboard the householder entered so frequently.
The other significant evidence was that five scales were recovered at Dixon’s premises and three of them bore traces of cocaine powder, potent evidence of drug dealing. These were scales the defendant used frequently when dieting. The magistrate said the suggestion that the scales were used by some third party was unrealistic.
The facts of the Crown’s case that had been proved were that Dixon was the sole occupant of the house, the cocaine was found in a bottle in a cupboard he accessed everyday, and scales in his possession bore traces of cocaine.
There was no credible evidence going to show on a balance of probability that the cocaine was put in the cupboard by the named relative. And there was no evidence that gave rise to a doubt as to whether the drug was put there by someone other than Dixon, the magistrate indicated.
She therefore concluded that the inference of knowledge to be drawn from the particulars of Dixon’s possession was irresistible. The coincidence of his scales bearing traces of cocaine supported the inference.
Related Videos
