By Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
THE COURT of Appeal yesterday dismissed the appeal of four Bahamians and a Jamaican convicted of drug trafficking, and then issued warrants for them and their sureties for failing to appear in court for the judgement.
The five were appealing their conviction and 18-month prison terms for possession of and taking steps to export 1,000 pounds of ganja.
The sureties, who bailed four of the men, will have to pay $8 million as neither the men nor the sureties had responded to a Court of Appeal order last Thursday to be present in court today. They were absent during the hearing of the case last Wednesday and Thursday.
The appellants are Mctair Major, 33, Miguel Cartwright, 32, Octavious Smith, 34, Shaviane Turnquest, of Nassau, the Bahamas, and Dwight Grant of Paggee, Port Maria, St. Mary.
They were convicted in May. Each were fined $1.5 million for possession, dealing in, and taking steps to export ganja, and also jailed for 18 months.
The sureties are Steadman Guy, jeweller, of Randolph Avenue, Kingston 20, who had used the title for his house at Cudjoe Hill, St. Catherine, to bail Smith and Major; and Keith Mendez, farmer, who used the title for his property at Burnt Ground, St. Elizabeth, to bail Cartwright and Grant.
Turnquest had absconded bail before the trial began and his surety was ordered in February this year to pay the $1.5 million which was the amount in the bail bond. Turnquest was tried in his absence.
Mr. Ian Ramsay, Q.C. told the Court of Appeal, comprising the Hon. Ian Forte, Mr. Justice Paul Harrison and Mr. Justice Clarence Walker, that in response to the court's order on Thursday, he had sent telegrams to the sureties but did not get any response.
In May this year, Resident Magistrate Sonia Linton convicted the men in the Port Maria Resident Magistrate's Court, St. Mary. Turnquest was also tried in his absence and was convicted of the offences. In June, the Court of Appeal granted the other four bail.
Evidence was given at the trial that on April 11 last year, the US Coast Guard was on patrol between the waters of Haiti and Cuba in search of illegal narcotic vessels. The five men were spotted in a boat about 80 miles east of Annotto Bay, St. Mary.
The Jamaica Defence Force Coast Guard was notified and during the chase to apprehend the men, they threw several packages overboard. The packages were retrieved and it was discovered that they contained over 1,000 pounds of ganja.
Mr. Ramsay and attorney Debra Martin, who represented the men, had argued that the Resident Magistrate had no jurisdiction to try the case as the alleged offence was committed outside of Jamaican waters. They also submitted that the evidence was riddled with discrepancies and contradictions.
Submissions were made yesterday by Paula Llewellyn, Acting Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions.
