Forty-two-year-old Winston Vernon, of Porto Bello, St James walked out of the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate’s Court a free man last week after the State’s case against him for possession of, dealing in and attempting to export 159 pounds of ganja was dismissed.

However Acting Senior RM Vivienne Harris, who acquitted him, sternly warned him to “walk the straight and narrow path as he might not be so lucky next time”.

On October 13, 2006, narcotics officers from Kingston, armed with arrest warrant , swooped down on an apartment complex at Porto Bello, overseen by Vernon, and slapped him with charges under the Dangerous Drugs Act after seizing 159 pounds of ganja in a garage.

Charges against two other persons, who were jointly charged, were subsequently withdrawn.

Vernon’s attorney George Thomas argued that there were “fundamental discrepancies” in the testimony of two police witnesses and pointed out that it had not been proven that the drugs belonged to Vernon.

He said the Crown had not done enough for the court to feel sure Vernon was in possession of the drugs and that “mere presence in a household was not enough”.

The Crown contended that the premises for which Vernon had responsibility was his permanent home and that at all times he had knowledge and physical control of the ganja.

RM Harris, having visited the locus in quo (the premises) noted that the burden of proof rested on the prosecution and that having reviewed the evidence, she gave the accused the benefit of the doubt.