Jackson Town chef fined, imprisoned for ganja
WESTERN BUREAU: Jackson Town, Trelawny resident and chef, Everton Green was fined approximately $50,000 earlier this week after he tried to transport more than six pounds of ganja to London last month.
The 35 year-old man was also sentenced to six weeks behind bars for the offence.
On April 24 Green, who was an outgoing Air Jamaica passenger to London, was stopped at the Montego Bay airport’s security checkpoint.
The black and aluminium trunk he had was searched and six and a half pounds of ganja was found inside its false compartment.
Green, who is the father of a two-year-old son and 10 year-old daughter, was slapped with charges of possession of, dealing in and attempting to export ganja.
When he appeared before the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate’s Court earlier this week, he pleaded guilty to the charges against him. Green’s attorney, Clive Mullings, proceeded to ask that the court grant him mercy.
“It is such Your Honour that his children’s mother is unemployed and he thought he’d take this chance to raise some money,” Mullings told the court.
He said Green had joined the “troupe of persons” who had joined the illicit trade to gain a financial windfall but had succeeded only in falling.
He added that Green was a humble person and one who was genuinely sorry for his offence. And under those circumstances, he asked that the court be lenient.
Presiding judge Valerie Stephens said she would be mindful of all the attorney had said but pointed out that the offence was a serious one which warranted a custodial sentence.
At the same time, the judge told Green that he had succeeded only in putting himself in more debt.
“There seems to be this tendency now that everybody wants easy money, drugs money. (But) now you have incurred more debt,” she told the accused.
For possession of the drug, he was fined $9,600 or three months. For dealing in it, he was fined $18,000 or three months. And for attempting to export the substance, he was fined an additional $27,000 or three months and sentenced to six weeks’ imprisonment at hard labour.
