Charlestown couple get five years in jail, $1.8M fines for ganja
Hubert Nathaniel Bartholomew and Rushelle Gittens, who were charged last year with having over a kilo and a half of marijuana for trafficking at their Charlestown home, were sentenced to five years in jail yesterday. The charge against Bartholomew and Gittens stated that on August 22, at Howes Street, Charlestown, they were found with 1.550 kilogrammes of cannabis in their possession for trafficking. When presenting her decision yesterday, Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan stated that she had found both defendants guilty of the offence of trafficking based on the evidence led by the prosecution’s witnesses. It was highlighted that the court disbelieved the evidence led by the defendants and their witness. Chief Magistrate McLennan noted that she believed that the defendants had knowledge, control and possession of the drugs for the purpose of trafficking. Subsequent to the guilty verdict, both Bartholomew and Gittens were sentenced to five years in jail and fined $1,860,000 each.
Court puts hold on Carvil Duncan tribunal
Embattled Chairman of the Public Service Commission Carvil Duncan has secured temporary court orders to halt the work of the tribunal set up to investigate whether he ought to be removed from the post. Justice Franklin Holder on Wednesday issued the orders based on a Notice of Motion filed last week on behalf of Duncan, whose lawyers argued that Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo’s advice to the President, which led to the setting up of the tribunal, was unconstitutional. Duncan last week moved to the High Court to challenge the legality of the tribunal after a request by his attorneys, Anil Nandlall and Satesh Satram, for it to suspend its work while criminal charges against him are still pending, was rejected. The tribunal comprises Justice Roxane George, who is the Chairperson, Justice (ret’d) Winston Patterson and attorney Robert Ramcharran, who were sworn by President David Granger on September 15. Duncan has been charged with stealing and conspiring to steal from GPL, while he was a serving member of its governing board. It was alleged that he stole $984,900, and conspired with another to steal $27,757,500, which was also property of GPL. The charges against Duncan stem from payments that were made to him and to former Deputy Chief Executive Officer Aeshwar Deonarine and which were uncovered by a forensic audit that was commissioned after the APNU+AFC government entered office last year.