A man dodged a 10-year prison sentence after his convicted co-defendants vouched for his innocence.
An appeals court acquitted the man of drug trading charges, overturning a decade-long prison sentence and a BD5,000 fine.
Based on his co-defendants’ testimonies, who repeatedly stated he was not involved in the racket, judges concluded that it was not reasonable to convict him of dealing in narcotics.
Instead, the court ruled that he was only guilty of using drugs, and the sentence was reduced to just six months and a BD100 fine. A deportation order was upheld.
“The other suspects admitted to working together to promote the narcotics, but completely and on multiple occasions denied that the appellant took any part in it,” read the appeals verdict.
“The court sees that their statements are highly plausible, because if he was indeed their partner, they would have testified against him like they testified against each other.”
In the initial verdict, the court further ruled to deport the expats after completing their sentences and to confiscate the narcotics. All three were also found guilty of possessing drugs for personal use.
In March, the expat and two co-defendants were all convicted by the High Criminal Court of possessing hashish to promote and sell it, and all three men received the same decade-long sentence and hefty fine.
Contesting this judgement, the three took to the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court, which upheld the verdicts issued on two of the appellants. The reasons for acquitting the third man was outlined at the hearing.
“The court agrees with the previous verdict, that it is a proven fact the appellant possessed a stimulant for personal use, since he admitted to it in questioning,” read the appeals ruling.
“After re-examining the incident and its circumstances, the court sees that the trading charge against the appellant is shrouded in shadows of doubt and uncertainty.
“It is enough for the court to doubt the accusation, for it to find him innocent. So long as it is aware of all the facts, it is the court’s prerogative to decide that. Furthermore, he was not arrested in possession of narcotics, and does share lodging with the other defendants, so it cannot be said that he had direct or indirect contact with what was found in their lodging. He only visited them from time-to-time to buy and use drugs.”
In the initial case, authorities were alerted about the defendants after synthetic cannabinoids (CBD oil) were spotted. The identity of one of the suspects was learned through an investigation, and both the co-defendants were arrested as they were found ‘high’ in the first suspect’s apartment.
In the flat, police found an assortment of paper saturated with CBD oil, 13 glass bottles with liquid CBD weighing a total of 358 gram, a bag with a 1gm crystal substance believed to be meth, and 12 marijuana seeds ready to plant.
More paraphernalia such as a scale, water pipe and packaging materials were also found.
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