Mahaut man fined EC$3,000 for one ganja tree grown in a pail
A 49-year-old man from Mahaut pleaded guilty to possessing and cultivating one cannabis tree that Mahaut police found growing in a white pail in his yard. Chief Magistrate Evalina Baptiste fined him EC$2,200 for cultivation and EC$800 on the other count, payable by 21 October 2012, with a seven-month jail term if he defaulted.
Fergerson Joseph, a 49-year-old man of Mahaut in Dominica, pleaded guilty to
possession and cultivation of cannabis in the Roseau court of Chief Magistrate
Evalina Baptiste on 21 May 2012.[1]Mahaut police said they went to Joseph’s
home on 19 May 2012 after a report and found a marijuana tree growing in a white
pail in his yard.[1]Asked to explain, he told the officers the tree was a
“kali tree” kept to make tea instead of coffee.[1]
Asked to mitigate on his own behalf because he had no lawyer, the first-time
offender told the court, “your honour, I don’t know what to say”.[1]The
magistrate noted that he had no previous convictions and had not wasted the
court’s time, and that the maximum penalty for cultivation was EC$100,000.[1]Baptiste said the prevalence of the “illicit and destructive” drug was a matter
of grave concern to her.[1]
Joseph was fined EC$2,200 for cultivation and a further EC$800, both to be paid
by 21 October 2012, with a seven-month jail term if he defaulted on the
cultivation fine.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Jordan Marshall, 29, of The Morne, St. Joseph, Dominica pleaded guilty to cultivating 1,352 cannabis plants found in an indoor nursery at his home and was fined $7,500. His brothers Shanly and Linson, arrested with him in the 10 February 2022 raid, pleaded not guilty and had their cases dismissed.
Betham Valmond of Sineku was sentenced to two months in prison in Dominica after pleading guilty to possessing 155 grams of marijuana with intent to supply. Police on patrol at Mahaut River in the Carib Territory said they saw him offering weed to people in a yard from a backpack.
Curvel St. Rose, 32, of Bath Estate and Massacre pleaded guilty in Dominica on 14 May 2012 to possessing 210 grams of cannabis and possessing it with intent to supply after police found the drug in a bag on his scooter at Canefield. Chief Magistrate Evalina Baptiste fined him EC$4,000 and gave him until 30 October 2012 to pay, with 13 months in jail if he did not.
Webster Edmund, 37, of Layou was sentenced at the St. Joseph court on 7 April 2011 to two years and five weeks in jail after pleading guilty to possessing 67 grams of marijuana with intent to supply, possessing a firearm and possessing ammunition. He was later sentenced separately to eight years and nine months for kidnapping and sexual offences.
