‘I did it for my children’
…Charlestown man jailed for five years, fined $8.4M for drug trafficking
“I KNOW it was a bad choice, but it was a choice I had to make when it comes to my children.” Those were the words of a 58-year-old man, who was on Friday sentenced to five years imprisonment and fined $8.4M, in relation to the recent drug ‘bust’ at St Stephen’s Street, Charlestown, Georgetown.
Courtney Demonick, 58, of 82 St. Stephen’s Street, Charlestown, appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus on Friday and confessed to two drug-trafficking charges.
Particulars of the first charge alleged that, on January 29, 2019, at St Stephen’s Street, Charlestown, he had 89.23 kilogrammes of cannabis and 20 grammes of cocaine in his possession, for the purpose of trafficking.
The second charge alleged that, on the same day and location, Demonick had 1.564 kilogrammes of cannabis in his possession for the purpose of trafficking. He pleaded guilty to the charge.
Dominic was charged jointly with Ebony Craig, 23, of 17 Lamaha Springs, Sophia, but opted to take the rap in return for the charges to be dropped against his co-accused
Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) prosecutor Konyo Sandiford made an application for the charge against Craig to be withdrawn and the Acting Chief Magistrate granted the request.
According to the evidence, Demonick was under surveillance by CANU ranks and was seen coming out of his lot 83 St Stephen’s Street, Charlestown home with a black plastic bag and taking same into a minibus.
Sandiford told the court that Demonick went back into the house and came back out with another black plastic bag and took it to motor car PPP 3008.
CANU ranks intercepted Demonick and found 1.564 kilogrammes of cannabis inside the motor car.
The ranks, after obtaining a search warrant, went into Demonick’s home and found a large quantity of cannabis and cocaine laid out in the bedroom and the kitchen floor. Craig was also found in the house.
In court, Demonick said that his four-year-old son suffers from bronchitis and that he has financial needs to take care of him.
“I know it was a bad choice, but it was a choice I had to make when it comes to my children,” the father of four told the court.
The acting chief magistrate told Demonick that she would be deducting 12 months from his sentence, since he cooperated with CANU during the investigation and did not waste the court’s time.
For the first charge, Demonick was sentenced to four years imprisonment along with a fine of $8.4M and for the second, he was sentenced to one year imprisonment along with a $50,000 fine. The sentences will, however, run concurrently.
