Thomas jailed for attempt to introduce drugs into the prison

The young man whom a police officer caught attempting to throw a bag filled with marijuana over the prison wall on Monday, was jailed on Wednesday, after appearing at the Serious Offences Court.{{more}}

Trevorn Thomas of Trinidad and Tobago pleaded guilty to having 18 grams of cannabis in his possession on September 17. He also pleaded guilty to attempting to introduce cannabis into the prison, and failure to leave the State on time.

On the drug charge, he was sentenced to one month in prison. On the charge of trying to introduce cannabis into prison, he was given four months and for failure to leave the state on time, he was fined $1,000 forthwith or three months in prison, which would run consecutive to the other sentences.

The court heard that at about 10:20 a.m. on Monday, Special Services Unit (SSU) officer Inspector Timothy Hazelwood was walking from the VINLEC office at Paul’s Avenue, when he saw Thomas attempting to throw a black plastic bag over the prison wall.

However, the bag got caught in the barbed wire on the prison wall.

Hazelwood then followed Thomas into a nearby shop, where he arrested him.

A fire truck later arrived on the scene and the bag was retrieved, using the truck’s ladder.

When cautioned by officers, Thomas said someone gave him the bag to “fire it” over the wall.

In his explanation to the court, Thomas said he was forced to throw the bag over the wall.

“I ain’t mean to do it. He just tell me is a small stick of weed in the bag… Ah go behave me self and just go back home,” Thomas said.

The court was also informed that Thomas arrived in St Vincent and the Grenadines on August 29, 2004 and was permitted to stay in the country for one month, but never left.

Asked by Chief Magistrate Sonya Young why he stayed here, Thomas told the magistrate that “I stay here because I like Vincy.”(KW)