Error on document stalls crack- cocaine case
ASt James man, who was arrested and charged for possession of 41 pieces of crack- cocaine, had his case set for mention on December 6 when he appeared before the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate’s Court on November 8.
Forty- seven- year- old auto mechanic Lascelles McKenzie, who is of a Salt Spring address, and who is charged for possession of and dealing in crack- cocaine, was given the return date after the court was informed of a discrepancy with one of the docu- ments on the prosecution’s case file.
The allegations are that on June 5, a joint police- military team conducted an operation in Hurlock, St James, and went to a house where McKenzie and two other men were seen on the veranda. The house was searched, and the crack- cocaine was found hidden in a cooler, following which the men were arrested and charged.
FREED OF CHARGES
McKenzie’s co- accused, Ricardo Munroe, of Princess Street in Montego Bay; and Ricordo Ashwood, a carpenter of a Birmingham address, in England, were freed of the charges when the mat- ter was last before the court on November 6, following an application to dismiss the case against them.
Yesterday, McKenzie’s lawyer, Trevor Ho Lyn, told Resident, Magistrate Carolyn Tie that the name that had been given on the forensic certificate was not his client’s name.
“There is a typographical error on the certificate, the wrong name, so we ask that the matter be dismissed,” said Ho Lyn.
“We can set it for December 6 just to get the typographical error corrected,” said Tie. “Come back here on December 6, and the investigating officer is bound over to be here,” the magistrate advised the defendant.