Twenty-nine-year-old Jordan Marshall of The Morne St. Joseph has until October 31, 2023, to complete paying a fine of seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500.00) fine for the cultivation of cannabis at his home.
Jordan Marshall along with Stanly and Linson Marshall was arrested on February 10, 2022, when the police executed a search warrant at the home of Jordan where the other brothers also resided.
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The facts
Armed with a search warrant the police went to the home at 4:30 am and met what appeared to be an indoor nursery electronically wired with lights and partially covered with clear plastic and also what appeared to be cannabis in 15 black seedling trays.
The defendants were questioned individually about the cultivation and they made no reply. The search continued and eight trays electronically wired with lights and partially covered with clear plastic and also what appeared to be cannabis were found. They were again questioned and made no reply.
As the search continued where further discoveries were made. In total 1,352 plants were discovered. After further inquiries, Jordan Marshall said “Officer it’s mine.”
All the men were arrested taken to Police Headquarters, the drugs were sent for testing and came back positive as cannabis.
In court, Jordan pleaded “guilty” and his brothers “not guilty” the prosecution then withdrew the charges against Stanly and Linson Marshall.
Mitigation
In mitigation, his lawyer Gina Abraham Thomas told the court that her client had no previous convictions and had fully cooperated with the police. The father of two young children (ages 3 and 9) told the court he is a former national footballer and in 2018, 2019, and 2020 had an accident the later causing him to be slightly “disabled” and he now has “iron in his legs and from time to time suffers from pain.”
“His disability prevents him from being gainfully employed,” she said. But in response Magistrate Michael Laduat stated that “this does not give him the right to enter in drugs cultivation which is an offence.”
“He is aware of this Your Honour and so we are asking the court to temper justice with mercy, he has his fair share of challenges and setbacks and he is very remorseful for his actions,” the defense lawyer told the court.
In sentencing, Magistrate Laduat said he had to take into action his guilty plea, age, family ties, and the public interest since the use of the drug has taken a totally different dispensation now.
He is to pay $1,500.00 by June 30, 2022, in default six months in jail, $2,000.00 by December 31, 2022, in default six months jail, and the balance of $4,000.00 must be paid by October 31, 2023, in default also six months in jail.
This is the saddest thing I have read out of Dominica in the last few weeks. I thought that the attitude towards marijuana as a drug had changed, and that ones and ones could have up to 28 grammes on one’s person or x amount of trees at home. And then you’re treating a marijuana grower as it he is a criminal. Why is the Rastafarians there not pushing for complete legalization and enter into the commercial and medical sector. Headlines like that coming from a country that wants to be the leader in the back-to-nature movement is very disappointing.