A MAN, sentenced to 15 years in jail for dealing in marijuana and urinating in public, will learn the fate of his appeal later this month.
On November 27, the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court will also rule in the case of his co-defendant who was found guilty of assisting him in his drugs trade and sentenced to 10 years in jail.
Both the appellants, only identified as Asian nationals in appeals documents, earlier admitted to drug trading charges against them. They, however, retracted their confessions during the trial at the High Criminal Court where they were both found guilty and convicted on all the charges.
The first appellant, aged 37, was reportedly arrested after a police officer, who was enjoying his weekend at home, looked out the window and saw a man urinating outside his house.
“After the suspect was done peeing, I saw him taking a red object out of his pocket and slipping it under a rock,” the officer testified about the incident that took place on a Friday in May.
“Then I saw him taking photos of the rock, so I went and asked him what he was doing. He became anxious, ran into a vehicle and drove away, so I informed my colleagues at the Hidd Police Station and gave them his licence plate number.”
What was hidden under the rock – the dead drop – turned out to be a polythene bag that was wrapped in tape, containing a ‘dry, plant material’ identified as marijuana.
The Anti-Narcotics Directorate took over the case, identified the suspect and arrested him. Upon arriving at his apartment, authorities reportedly found the 36-year-old co-appellant high on drugs.
Despite his confession, the second appellant’s lawyer argued before appeals judges that her client was convicted solely on the basis of his associate’s testimony against him.
“The evidence used against my client, a co-defendant’s statement, is marred with doubts and is a weak basis on which to build a conviction,” read the memo submitted to judges during the final hearing before a verdict date was announced.
“As for the drug use, my client’s admission to the charge has come from a place of deep regret, and he is completely prepared to undergo treatment for it.
“The drug use made him a suspect in the first place, which is a guarantee he will not commit such a thing ever again in the future.”
The attorney also claimed that the second appellant had no criminal intent, which, according to her, ‘rules out the trading charge’.
The GDN earlier reported that authorities found more narcotic-containing tape-wrapped plastic bags and a smoking pipe with residue of methamphetamine and marijuana. A makeshift ‘bong’ was also found in the house, put together haphazardly by affixing two plastic straws to a transparent plastic bottle.
In Public Prosecution hearings, the first appellant admitted to importing and pushing narcotics on behalf of an ‘anonymous’ individual in return for money, but in court denied public indecency and dealing charges.
The second appellant admitted to possessing drugs for personal use and aiding his co-appellant’s illicit business by bringing in customers, but in court denied the latter charge.
In September, they were both found guilty of all charges. On top of their sentences, they were fined BD5,000 each.
The first defendant was fined another BD100 for public indecency.
A verdict will be issued by the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court on November 27.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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