Not guilty verdict puts Nooks’ career back on track

May 22, 2019
George Nooks
George Nooks
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Reggae singer George Nooks is looking forward to getting his career back on track, after being found not guilty of drug charges when he appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court in Half-Way Tree, yesterday.

“This definitely takes the dent out of my vehicle, everything smooth down back now,” a relieved-sounding Nooks told The STAR. “I can go forth now - not that I had stopped travelling - but there were potholes in my road as far as pushing ahead with my career was concerned. I am now looking forward to getting my permit to travel to other places and spread the joy. I had an appointment to do that, but my lawyer told me that I should chill a little until all of this is over. Well, the time is now,” he added.

Nooks’ cocaine possession case had been dragging through the courts for two years.

However, early in the case, his attorney, Queen’s Counsel Tom Tavares-Finson had cited major discrepancies and requested that the case be thrown out.

The main one was the location of the arrest. According to the lawyer, the police investigator named the location as Duhaney Park Plaza, in St Andrew. However, the police, through Senior Superintendent McArthur Sutherland, head of the Narcotics Division, had reported that Nooks had been arrested in the community of Widcombe Heights, St Andrew, where he lives.

Inconsistency

Tavares-Finson argued then that the conflict about where Nooks’ arrest took place went to the root of the case.

He said then that the inconsistency could not be credibly explained.

Nooks told The STAR that “the inconsistencies from the officers involved amounted to bare foolishness.”

He added: “From the accounts given in court by the police officers, it looked as if one of them was in Negril and the other one was in Kingston when the incident took place. One say he thought he saw something in my hand and the other said that he didn’t see me with anything. I wish I could see the notes that the judge made while she sat there listening to them,” he said.

The police alleged that on May 5, 2017, Nooks was seen in Duhaney Park with a paper bag, and on their approach, he threw the item into his car.

He was accosted and a bag he was carrying was searched. The bag was found to contain just under two ounces of cocaine. He was subsequently arrested and charged.

Of his not guilty verdict, a jubilant Nooks said: “I’m feeling happy and glorious and thanking my good friends for their fasting and their prayers.”

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