-after DPP about face on prosecution
Over a month after police said they were advised by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to proceed with a cocaine trafficking charge against United Kingdom-based Guyanese Vanessa Moore, they reported yesterday that they have since been advised to withdraw it. As a result, Moore, who had been charged alongside her exboyfriend with attempting to smuggle a quantity of cocaine, hidden in bottles of rum, out of the country at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri, was freed of the charge. Moore’s ex-boyfriend Dwayne King, who was accused by Moore of planting 2.9 kilogrammes of cocaine in the rum bottles that he asked her to take out of the country, was recently found guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced to 60 months in jail. Moore had given evidence against King, which aided in him being found guilty. However, on September 9, Moore appeared before Magistrate Judy Latchman and she learned that the prosecution was advised by the DPP to proceed with the charge against her. However, during the resumption of the matter before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan yesterday, police prosecutor Neville Jeffers stated that he was advised by the DPP to have the charge against Moore withdrawn. Subsequent to the Chief Magistrate viewing an apparent letter from the DPP conveying the said information, the prosecutor requested that the matter be withdrawn. This request was granted by the Chief Magistrate.