Teen slapped with 4-year sentence, fined $53M for ganja possession
Nineteen-year-old Marlena Emptage of Norton Street, Wortmanville, Georgetown has been sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and fined $53.1 million after being found guilty of the offence of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking.
In her appearance on Friday before Georgetown Magistrate Leron Daly, she admitted that on January 18, 2023, she had in her possession 59 kilograms of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking.
Marlena Emptage, Tyriq Gentle and Yvette Robinson, who were wanted by CANU, were jointly charged with this offence, but when Emptage appeared before Magistrate Daly, she told the court that the others had no knowledge of the drugs being kept in the house. As such, the charges against Gentle and Robinson have been withdrawn.
CANU Prosecutor Richard Harris told the court that on the day in question, acting on information received, ranks went to Norton Street and conducted a search. They unearthed three bags containing ganja in Emptage’s bedroom and in the living room. At time of the raid, Emptage was not at home, and wanted bulletins were thus issued for her arrest and that of the two others.
Emptage told the court that the drug belonged to Roy Anthony Charles, called “Skiddle”, who was recently gunned down on Durban Street, and that she had been given $100,000 to keep it for him.
She begged the court for leniency, but was instead slapped with a four-year sentence and fined a whopping $53,100,000.