Although the maximum sentence in Cayman for a ganja-related conviction is seven years for a first offender, a second conviction carries a maximum of 15 years imprisonment.
That was the situation that applied to Assad Adana Walker, attorneys agreed in Summary Court last week.
Walker, a Jamaican national, and Earl Reeves McLaughlin, a Caymanian, were being sentenced after Magistrate Nova Hall found them guilty of being concerned in the possession of ganja with intent to supply.
They and six other men had been charged after police found a large cache of ganja and a quantity of hashish in East End in July 2003.
Howard Hamilton QC advised the court that Walker had a previous conviction in Cayman. He had been sentenced in December 2000 to three years imprisonment for importation of ganja.
Mr. Hamilton and Senior Crown Counsel Adam Roberts agreed that being concerned in the possession of more than a pound of ganja was on the same sentencing schedule as importation. Therefore, the 15-year maximum applied.
Magistrate Nova Hall indicated that her sentences largely reflected the role each man played.
She pointed out that Walker had initially admitted to police that he helped bring in between 1,500 and 2,000 pounds of ganja in the 2003 incident. In court he pleaded not guilty and the magistrate held a special hearing to determine the circumstances of the interview in which Walker’s admissions were recorded. She found that he had given the answers recorded and she accepted those answers as true.
In addition to the 12 year sentence, she ordered the confiscation of the vessel.
On behalf of McLaughlin, Defence Attorney Keith Collins urged the court to say that this defendant as watchman over the container was a very small player in the overall scheme of things.
McLaughlin has four children who will suffer if he is not able to support them, Mr. Collins said.
The magistrate imposed a term of three years.
On behalf of another defendant, Mr. Collins asked for the return of Ja$50,000 that had been found aboard the vessel.
The magistrate refused this request. She pointed out that the defendant had been discharged because she was not satisfied he had given the answers that were recorded in his interview.
But, she pointed out, the Misuse of Drugs Law provides that funds seized in the course of a suspected drug transaction can be ordered forfeited, notwithstanding lack of conviction. The standard of proof is on the balance of probability, not the criminal standard of beyond reasonable doubt.
The other six defendants charged in connection with this matter were acquitted (Caymanian Compass, 26 August).
In her judgment, the magistrate set out the evidence against each and found it to be unsatisfactory or unsafe or inconclusive.
One man, for example, was accused of transporting the container from George Town to East End. He denied doing so. But even if he did, the magistrate indicated, she was unable to find that the container had drugs in it when it left George Town, and there was no evidence of any connection with the drugs brought by the vessel.
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