Trinidad man gets 20 years for cocaine in orange juice
(Trinidad Express)
Convicted drug accused
Stephen Gocking has been slapped with a 20-year prison term after being found guilty by a Port of
Spain jury in July on two counts of cocaine possession for the purpose of trafficking.
The drugs was found concealed in orange juice tins, hidden in the kitchen of a house in Diego Martin that Gocking was occupying at the time and in a van he had previously borrowed from his wife.
That bust was made by police on the evening of August 14, 2001, during a raid at the apartment located on Franklyn Road, off Union Road, Diego Martin. In all, officers had found 206 juice tins containing 21.74 kilogrammes of the narcotic combined with acetone.
During the sentencing at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain on Thursday, Justice Maria Wilson imposed a sentence of six years on Gocking on the first count, and a term of imprisonment of 20 years on the second. Both sentences are to run concurrently, meaning Gocking will serve just 20 years’ imprisonment minus the 73 days he had already spent in custody.
The judge said there was a clear legislative intent of Parliament since Section 5 of the Dangerous Drugs Act, stated that a person found guilty of such an offence could be fined up to $100,000 or where there is evidence of the street value of the drugs, they could be fined three times the amount together with 25 years’ imprisonment.
In this case, no evidence was presented as to the street value of the cocaine.
Further to that, Justice Wilsdon said the court had to take into consideration the seriousness of the offence as well as its prevalence. A clear message needed to be sent to those contemplating committing similar offences that such acts would not be tolerated, said the judge.
Gocking is the cousin of Clint and Troy Gocking, who were fined $10 million for the illegal importation of two armoured Lincoln Navigator SUVs that were impounded by the State. He is also the nephew of Marlon Gocking, who was shot dead along Frederick Street, Port of Spain, in 2008.
In passing sentence, Justice Wilson said she was of the opinion that on the first count, the appropriate sentence was eight years’ imprisonment. However, this was reduced due to Gocking’s previously clean criminal record, the fact that he had not found himself in trouble with the law since his arrest in 2001 and his current health condition.
On the second count, she said the appropriate sentence was 25 years, but this was reduced to 20 also based on the previous factors.