Drug trafficker wants conviction overturned

CONVICTED drug trafficker Stephen Gocking is trying to convince the Court of Appeal to overturn his conviction.

He appeared virtually before Justices of Appeal Alice Yorke-Soo Hon, Mark Mohammed and Malcolm Holdip, who have reserved their decision.

In 2019, Gocking was sentenced to 20 years by Justice Maria Wilson (now an Appeal Court judge) after he was convicted of trafficking 21.74 kilogrammes of cocaine. The drug was found in 206 orange-juice tins by police who searched a house on Franklyn Road, off Union Road, Four Roads, Diego Martin, in 2001.

They found 45 orange-juice tins containing the cocaine, a solid block of cocaine, weighing 25 grammes, in the kitchen and 161 orange-juice tins, which also contained cocaine and acetone, weighing 89 kilogrammes, in the trunk of his wife’s SUV, which he was using at that time.

At his trial, Gocking testified that the apartment at Franklyn Road belonged to his half-uncle Marlon and he was there “for a romantic interlude” with a young woman who was not his wife.

He said he went there to meet a young lady and arranged with Marlon to use the apartment for an hour. He took the woman to the apartment because he “certainly could not take her to my apartment where my wife lived.”

Gocking lived with his wife and mother at Apt 303, Building C, Powder Magazine, Diego Martin.

In his appeal, Gocking’s attorneys Larry Williams and Shaun Morris argued that the judge failed to direct properly the jury on evidence used to establish he had control of the apartment, as well as his claim that the evidence against him was fabricated.

Prosecutor Sabrina Dougdeen-Jaglal disagreed, pointing out that the judge did raise Gocking’s fabrication defence, but accepted that the judge did not specifically address the issue of where he said he lived. However, she said the State’s case was that he had control of the apartment, not that he owned it.

“Love nest or drug nest – he was using this place. There was no necessity for State to prove he lived there, but that he had control of the apartment. He had control, whether or not he lived there,” she submitted.

She said it was open to the jury to come to the conclusion that he had control and was using the premises for these nefarious purposes. “It could be interpreted as control,” she insisted.

A fifth ground of appeal on his sentence was withdrawn with permission.

Gocking is a cousin of brothers Clint and Troy Gocking, who were fined $10 million for illegally importing two armoured Lincoln Navigator SUVs, which were impounded by the State. He is also the nephew of Marlon Gocking, who was gunned down on Frederick Street, Port of Spain, in 2008.