A construction worker who was charged with cultivating and trafficking cannabis was denied bail after appearing before a city court.[1] Mark McLean was remanded to prison after denying charges of possessing narcotics for trafficking and cultivating plants in his yard.[2] Stabroek News reports that the charge alleged he had 200.11 grammes of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking on 28 February 2019.[1] Stabroek News says the second charge alleged that on 11 March at Toucan Drive he cultivated a cannabis plant he knew to be prohibited.[1] Kaieteur News reports both charges as covering the same date and the Lot 681 Toucan Drive, South Ruimveldt address, with 211 grams of narcotics.[2] He denied both charges before Magistrate Faith McGusty.[1]
The charges were read at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, where his lawyer George Thomas applied for reasonable bail.[2] The prosecutor said police searched his home and found the suspected narcotic in a music speaker belonging to him.[2] Stabroek News says the bag of cannabis was found on a music speaker on the stairway leading to his second-floor flat.[1] His lawyer told Stabroek News that several people lived in the house and the cannabis could have belonged to any of them.[1] The lawyer also said police did not find him tending the plant.[1] The prosecutor told the court that a witness said he threw seeds in the yard after smoking and began tending the plant once he saw it growing.[1] The prosecutor also said he had made an oral statement admitting to both charges.[1]
Stabroek News reports that he was remanded to jail with his next court date set for 27 March 2019.[1] Kaieteur News also records the remand and the adjournment to 27 March 2019.[2]
