Minister’s brother pleads guilty to cocaine trafficking

– to pay $5.7M fine or spend 3 years in jail

The younger brother of Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson was on Thursday given the option of paying a hefty fine or being jailed for three years after he pleaded guilty in a Grenada court to the charge of cocaine trafficking.
Derrick Patterson, 47, confessed to the crime when the charge was read to him by Magistrate Tamara Gill at the St George’s Court in Grenada. The accused was ordered to pay EC$75,000 (G$5.789 million) or serve three years in jail, if he was unable to pay the fine.
It was previously reported that Patterson was visiting Grenada and resided at Captain Harris apartments in Grand Anse, St George’s.
However, on May 2, 2018, officers attached to the Drug Squad of the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) intercepted a vehicle that was driven by Patterson.
The vehicle was searched and a total of 2.325kg of cocaine, worth approximately

US$232,500 were found hidden in a plastic bag.
Meanwhile, back in Guyana, the Public Infrastructure Minister made a public statement, noting that if his brother was found culpable of the offence, he would have to bear the brunt of his actions.
“Our position is that Derrick [Patterson] is a matured adult of 47 years and he must bear full responsibility for the consequences of his actions. Neither I nor any other member of my family can take responsibility for his own, deliberate actions,” the Minister said in a public statement made on Facebook.
The Minister further explained that his family’s initial reaction at the news was that of shock, and while they remained deeply distressed and concerned, there was some hope that the law enforcement officials in Grenada may have made a mistake.
Nevertheless, he emphasised in his post that his younger brother must face the consequences if he was found guilty in the court of law.
Moreover, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo had later called on Government to have a full-scale investigation launched in Guyana to ensure that the country’s security was not compromised, given the fact that the accused was a family member of a Government Minister and would have been granted certain “VIP treatment”.
“This is where the Government should launch a full investigation into it since this is a clean Government that doesn’t tolerate drug dealing,” he had stated.