Businesswoman found guilty of 2017 narco-trafficking charge

More than two years after being slapped with a charge of cocaine trafficking, a Lodge, Georgetown businesswoman, Joy Jacqueline Caines, was on Friday found guilty by Magistrate Dylon Bess.
The Magistrate, at the conclusion of the trial, ruled that sufficient evidence was found against the woman. He, however, ordered a probation report be prepared and presented to the court on March 27, 2020, when sentencing will be handed down.
Caines initially pleaded not guilty to the charge which detailed that on April 16, 2017, at Lot 232 Lockoo Street, Lodge, she had 2.092 kilograms of cocaine in her possession for the purpose of trafficking.
The prosecution had contended that on April 16, 51-year-old Bernadette Warren was arrested at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri, with some 1.504 kilograms of cocaine in her suitcases.
The court heard that after Warren’s arrest, she identified Caines as the person who supplied her the illegal substance.
As such, ranks of the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) swooped down on the now-convicted woman’s house and conducted a search. During the search, an empty suitcase with false walls was found with the drugs along with $14.5 million.
Both Warren and Caines made appearances in 2017 before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan. However, Warren did not waste the court’s time, as she pleaded guilty and was sentenced to serve three years’ imprisonment.