3 years jail for 3 ounces of marijuana

A 35-year-old Aishalton famer was sentenced to three years imprisonment for trafficking over three ounces of cannabis.

Fernando Latia, father of three, appeared before Magistrate Judy Latchman at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, where he confessed that on August 17, 2017 at Aishalton Village, South Rupununi he had 96 grams of cannabis for the purpose of trafficking.

The unrepresented man told the court, “If it wasn’t for my grandmother’s sick daughter, I won’t have had the thing.”

The court heard that on the day in question, at about 04:30 hrs, the police acted on information and went to the accused Aishalton home, where they found him standing outside. 

The ranks searched Latia and didn’t find anything, however a few feet away the police retrieved a multicolored bag which was nestled between the roots of an orange tree in the said yard.  The bag was searched in the presence of Latia and the drugs were found inside. The man reportedly told the ranks: “The weed is my own, I just doing a fine hustle.”

In addition to the three years prison sentence, he was also fined $30,000.