A 29-year-old individual from the Dominican Republic has been sentenced to jail time and fined for possessing cocaine in the country.
Elni Jose Bernarld pleaded guilty to the charges and was handed a six-month prison sentence by District B Magistrate Ngaio Emanuel.
The charges against Bernarld included possession of 10.9 pounds of cocaine and possession with intent to transfer the substance.
In addition to the jail term, Magistrate Emanuel ordered Bernarld to pay a fine of XCD$58,000.00 within four months, failure of which would result in an additional 18 months of imprisonment.
The arrest occurred when police discovered Bernarld in a boat without lights, approaching Willikies Wharf last Friday night, carrying the Class “A” drug.
While determining the sentence based on the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court’s guidelines, Magistrate Emanuel acknowledged the absence of aggravating factors related to the offense or the defendant.
However, she took into account several mitigating factors, such as the defendant’s cooperation with the police, his age, and his responsibility as a parent to four minor children.
The prosecution decided to withdraw the charges against a second defendant who had pleaded not guilty to the offenses.
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If he is not a Naturalized Citizen. He should serve his sentence and be deported.
Even if he’s naturalised he should have his stay in Antigua and Barbuda revoked and deported to Santa Domingo. His type of scums that are causing havoc in the country.
If our broken immigration services allows him to remain, it will be a case of him putting two fingers up at the courts and he will return to peddling drugs.
He should be deported and let him peddle drugs in his home land. The magistrates had the authority to order his deportation, but once again the courts are being too lenient with hardened criminals.
When will we see Cutie’s proactive measures for tackling crime? Goodness, not even the law courts are effective.
Let him serves his time, thereafter put him on a one way flight out. Also why hasn’t the court allowed the world to see who this drug dealer is? Shame and name.
Are all those other person’s deported
He has Antiguan children so will most likely stay. He will be able to support all four as cocaine dealing can make you a lot of money in a short space of time. Yes, he was caught this time but he won’t be caught all the time. Quite a few persons from Dominica Republic have links to their home country that they utilize to facilitate the transshipment of illicit drugs. This is not a secret.
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