Three men were sentenced on Monday to prison terms ranging from two and a half to three years.[1] All three men were Jamaican.[2] The men were Linton Nightpole Pillarchie, Eyon Joshua Johnson and Cephas Solomon Reynolds, who pleaded guilty to importing 438 pounds (about 198.67 kg) of ganja into the Cayman Islands on the night of 28 September 2017.[1]
Crown counsel Kenneth Ferguson said two officers patrolling near San Sebastian along South Sound saw the men unloading packages from a Jamaican canoe onto shore around 11:30 p.m.[1][3] After the officers called for assistance, the three fled in different directions while a police helicopter monitored the area and other officers secured the packages.[1][3] Around 3 a.m., officers saw the men walking along South Sound Road, wet, barefoot and dressed in shorts and shirts, and arrested them near Walkers Road.[1] Johnson said the canoe was his and that all three had taken turns steering it, while Pillarchie said he had stowed away to seek a better life in Cayman.[1]
Magistrate Valdis Foldats gave Johnson 30 months after a three-month credit for personal mitigation and a one-third discount for his guilty plea.[1] Pillarchie received 33 months because he pleaded guilty late, after a trial date had been set and a case-management hearing held.[1] Reynolds had served an 18-month prison sentence in the United States for wounding before being deported to Jamaica.[1] The magistrate treated Reynolds’s prior sentence as aggravating, raised the starting point to 54 months and imposed 36 months after the guilty-plea discount.[1] The magistrate ordered the ganja destroyed and the canoe forfeited to the Crown.[1]
The three men remained in police custody on Sunday.[3]
