Dad with ganja jailed

COMMENTING on the level of sophistication used to package marijuana, San Fernando Magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine sentenced an unemployed father yesterday to two-and-a-half years in jail. Junior Jadoo, 39, of John’s Road, St Margaret’s Village, Claxton Bay pleaded guilty in the First Court to having 490 grammes of marijuana.

Prosecutor Ramdath Phillip said that at about 4.20 am on Wednesday, WPC Tamara Seerattan and other officers carried out a search of Jadoo’s house but found nothing mentioned in their warrant. However, when they searched the living room they found a schoolbag which contained five plastic packets of marijuana. They also found a scale, two sealers and a roll of plastic packaging, and found 50 twenty-dollar bills, inside the bag.

Seerattan said based on the packaging, Jadoo had the marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. The court heard that Jadoo remarked: “Officer, that is just a small smoke.” Seerattan of the St Margaret’s Police Station laid the charge.

Defence attorney Annalee Girwar denied that her client made the statements. She said Jadoo is a father of three children, aged 12, nine and three. She told the court the youngest child has a condition in which abscesses form on the face.

On numerous occasions, the child visited the hospital for treatment, but more abscesses are appearing. A dental lab in Chaguanas recommended dental surgery as a permanent cure.

But Girwar explained that six months ago, the company for which Jadoo worked closed down and since then he had been unemployed. As a result, the family cannot afford to pay for the child’s surgery.

The magistrate said what caught the court’s attention was the level of sophistication of the operation, as the packaging was very neat and factory-like. She then passed her sentence.