East Ruimveldt man escapes jail time on narcotics charge

– to do community service

An East Ruimveldt man got lucky on Wednesday after he was ordered to serve 10 hours of community service instead of jail time after he pleaded guilty to a drug possession charge.

Matthew Burrowe, 19, a construction worker, pleaded guilty to possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking when he appeared before Magistrate Fabayo Azore at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

The Prosecution contended that on April 5, at East Ruimveldt, Georgetown, he had in his possession three grams of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking.

According to the Prosecutor’s case, on the day in questioned, the defendant upon seeing a Police patrol van began acting in a suspicious manner. Having suspected that something was amiss, the Police pursued the defendant who starting running. The Police eventually caught him and a search was carried out on his person. During the search, a transparent Ziploc bag containing the leaves, seeds and stems of what was suspected to be cannabis was found in his pants pocket.

Burrowe was the escorted to the Ruimveldt Police station. In court on Wednesday, Burrowe claimed that he saw the package on the road and picked it up to keep it for the owner when the Police saw him and searched him.

Magistrate Azore then ordered him to do 10 hours of community service. He was also fined $3000.