Thirty-five-year-old Fernanda Laita of the Region 9 community of Aishalton, South Rupununi was on Wednesday arraigned before Georgetown Magistrate Judy Latchman on a charge detailing that, on August 17, at Aishalton Village, South Rupununi, Region Nine, he was found with 96 grams of cannabis in his possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Unrepresented by legal counsel, the father of two minors admitted to the charge, and in a plea of mitigation, told the magistrate that the drugs were for the use of his mother and grandmother, who are both ill.
“If it wasn’t for my mother and grandmother who are ill, I would have never had it,” the farmer explained.
But Police Prosecutor Shawn Gonsalves told the court that the illicit substance was found in a multi-coloured bag hanging from a tree close to where the defendant was found. He said that when the bag was searched by police ranks, leaves, seeds and stems suspected to be cannabis were discovered. The bag and the defendant were taken into Police custody, where the defendant told ranks, “I was just doing a lil hustle”.
Accordingly, Magistrate Latchman sentenced Laita to three years’ imprisonment, and fined him $30,000.