Court gives 1-year suspended sentence to man nabbed with 16g ganja

…sets aside previous 3-year jailtime

The Demerara Full Court has set aside the three-year prison sentence imposed on 21-year-old Shem Winter who was nabbed with 16 grammes of marijuana in his community of Tabatinga, Lethem, Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo) on November 27, 2021.

Finding that the sentence was unduly harsh, the Bench of Chief Justice Roxane George, SC, and Justice Sandil Kissoon on Friday allowed Winter’s appeal, and instead imposed on him a one-year suspended sentence.
A suspended sentence is a legal arrangement in which a person who has been found guilty of a crime is not sentenced to jail, but may be sentenced for that crime at a future time if he or she commits another crime during a specified period.
In November of last year, Winter and his accomplice, 29-year-old Lester ‘Monkey’ George, were arraigned at the Lethem Magistrate’s Court on narcotics-related charges.
Winter, who pleaded guilty to trafficking 16 grammes of marijuana, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and fined $10,000, while George was given three months of community service and a $5,000 fine for having five grammes of the illegal substance. The sentences were imposed by Magistrate Alan Wilson.
Police Headquarters had reported that Winter and George were arrested on November 27, 2021 after a total of 21 grammes of cannabis sativa were found in their possession. Police ranks acting on information intercepted the duo in a motorcar at Tabatinga Village, and Police found two Ziploc bags in George’s pocket and a bulky, transparent plastic bag in Winter’s crotch.
After Winter was sentenced, his lawyer Jerome Khan appealed Magistrate Wilson’s decision on the ground that the sentence was unduly harsh. Counsel argued that his client, who was unrepresented in the lower court, had pleaded guilty and claimed that he had the drug for his personal use.
Attorney Jerome Khan further argued that the Magistrate, in passing the sentence, had failed to apply Section 73(b) of the Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Act, which has provisions to consider special reasons in determining a sentence.
According to Khan, Winter is gainfully employed, and was never caught in any commercial transaction selling the narcotic.
In allowing the appeal against the sentence, the Full Court agreed with the grounds advanced by Khan, and therefore imposed the suspended sentence on Winter. (G1)