FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 08, 2023
VOLUME 117, No.36
www.thevincentian.com
Lawyer impressed Page 3
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New cricket president Page 24
‘SPIRIT’ SALUTES CHIEF MAGISTRATE
it, and perhaps we have a right to, when the condition demands it. But when she makes a judgment that reflects fairness, or advances our cause, I think she ought to be complimented. I salute you Madame Magistrate.” So said Head of the Cannabis Revival Committee (CRC) and Liaison Officer with the Medical Cannabis Authority (MA), Junior ‘Spirit’ Cottle, as he lauded Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne for her sentencing approach in a marijuana case on Monday (Sept. 4). And as he singled out Chief Magistrate Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne may well have Browne for praise and set a precedent by using a value of $400.00 per recognition, the CRC pound for marijuana, in her deduction in arriving at a Chief called on other recent sentence. Magistrates to take a leaf from her book, in by HAYDN HUGGINS exercising judicial understanding and discretion in light of the changes “SOMETIMES WE LIKE TO BEAT UP on the Magistrate when she is a bit hard on taking place around the world with regard to marijuana. us, and maybe sometimes she deserves
ANOTHER FATAL SHOOTING A RELATIVE CALM that had prevailed over this country was broken on Thursday. Police reported that they were called to the scene where a man lay dead in a road in the South Leeward community of Buccament. The dead man was later identified as Jovanne Baptiste, a resident of Rose Place, who was apparently on his way to the Sandals Beaches Resort construction site, where he was employed. A police source confirmed that the
man was the victim of multiple gunshots. Indications are that the shooting took place just before 8:00am, in the vicinity to the Seventh-day Adventist Primary School. Baptiste’s death brings the homicide count to 36, inclusive of three by police action, and follows on the July 19 shooting deaths of five males. St. Vincent and the Grenadines recorded its highest homicide count, 42, in 2022.
Cottle’s praise for the Chief Magistrate came while speaking to THE VINCENTIAN shortly after she fined Green Hill resident Romaul Benn $15,583 for possession of 68 pounds of marijuana with intent to supply. He was ordered to pay $5,000 forthwith or six months in prison and the balance of $10,083 by November 10 or 12 months in prison. The Magistrate had opted not to impose a custodial sentence after hearing the facts of the case, Junior Cottle’s evidence to the Court in support of the defense’s submissions, a sterling mitigation plea from Benn’s attorney Grant Connell, and response from prosecutor Renrick Cato. In sentencing the defendant, she used the value of $400 per pound, perhaps becoming the first Magistrate to go below the $500 per pound value set by then Commissioner of Police Keith Miller several years ago. Magistrates have over the years been using the value of $500 to $700 per pound for marijuana. In using $400 per pound, the value of the 68 pounds of marijuana found in Benn’s possession amounted to $27,200. However, the Magistrate went down by $4,000, even though the Court has the power to impose a fine of three times the value, after considering that the mitigating factors outweighed the aggravating (ones) for the offense, as well as the offender. Benn was also granted a one-third discount for his guilty plea notwithstanding that it was not entered at the first available opportunity.
Step in the right direction Cottle told THE VINCENTIAN that while the penalty was not a total victory
for traditional marijuana growers, it is a step in the right direction, in light of the changes taking place locally, regionally, and internationally in respect of marijuana. “Thanks to the persuasive arguments of defense attorney Grant Connell, and the continued demand for justice and equality by traditional cultivators, and of course the fairness of the sitting Magistrate,” Cottle said. According to Cottle, “Our struggle for equality and justice still has a far way to go, but the recent decision by the Chief Magistrate is an indication that we are getting there”.
Appeal to traditional formers He took the opportunity to urge traditional (marijuana) cultivators to, Continued on Page 3.
Junior ‘Spirit’ Cottle of the CRC recognized Chief Magistrate Browne for exercising judicial understanding and discretion in arriving at a sentence in this marijuana case involving Romaul Benn.