By Leroy Smith
On Tuesday a couple from the North West District appeared in a Georgetown Magistrates’ Court where they were charged for the cultivation of marijuana.
John Antonio also called ‘Malcom’, 55 years old and his wife, Dian Daniels, 53 years old were charged for having a farm with four hundred plants with an estimated height of 4ft.
Antonio and his wife pleaded guilty to the charge. However, Daniels subsequently told the court that she had an explanation in which she noted that she knew nothing about the presence of the plant on the farm which is located several miles from where they live. The court then changed her guilty plea to not guilty.
The court then changed her guilty plea to not guilty.
John Antonio in his explanation after pleading guilty told the court that he decided to cultivate the illegal plants because he lost his house and three sons during a fire some time ago and that has had a toll on him.
He explained that he has been having a hard time coping with the loss of his children and his house and needed money to rebuild his house hence the planting of the marijuana.
Apart from planting Marijuana, the man told the court that he was also in the business of cultivating cabbage and selling that along with fish. His wife is in the business of selling potatoes and cassava.
On the day in question, the police acting on information visited the home of the two and carried out a search but nothing was found. They were then escorted to their farm and it was there that the discovery was made and they were told of the offence and promptly taken into custody.
Some of the drugs were kept for evidence while the remainder on the farm was destroyed by fire.
Antonio was jailed for three years and ordered to pay a fine of $15,000 while his wife was remanded to prison and would return to court on in February 2017 in the North West District.
