Rastafarian wins ganja case

February 14, 2020

At least one Rastafarian, Wilbert Brooks, is seeing the benefits of the Dangerous Drugs (Amendment) Act, which was amended in 2015.

Brooks was arrested on the Slipe main road in St Elizabeth on July 24, 2019, after a bus he was travelling in was searched by the police.

A bag containing vegetable matter resembling ganja was found on him. It weighed 17 pounds.

When cautioned, he told the officer: "Officer, mi come get it fi di church for sacrament."

He was charged with possession of ganja and dealing in ganja. However, the in the St Elizabeth Parish Court on February 10, his attorney, Samoi Campbell, made an application for the case to be dismissed on the basis that Brooks was entitled to an exemption provided under the amended act.

The court was told that Brooks, who is an ambassador of the Ethiopia African Black International Congress Church of Divine Salvation, was tasked to carry the substance which would be used at a later time.

Campbell told THE WEEKEND STAR that in her submission, the judge, Ann Marie Grainger, asked her to get a letter from the church to corroborate Brook's story.

The crown conceded and offered no evidence. Brooks was freed the following day.

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