ONLY ONE OF THREE MEN on drug charges managed to raise the $130 000 surety to walk out on bail yesterday.
Kersten Damian Moore, 32, of Skeete’s Road, No. 1 Ivy; Erskine Oneil Barker, 36, of Ellis Road, Bush Hall; and Robert Sylvester Hewitt, a 54-year-old general worker, of Barker’s Road, Haggatt Hall, all in St Michael, faced joint and separate charges when they appeared in District “A” Magistrates’ Court.
The unemployed Barker was charged with unlawful possession, trafficking and intent to supply cannabis last Saturday. While prosecutor Station Sergeant Neville Reid did not disclose the quantity of the drugs, he said it had an estimated street value of $507 320.
Moore, also unemployed, was accused of unlawful possession of cannabis with intent to supply, while the three are jointly charged with trafficking 92.6 kilogrammes of cannabis with a street value of $185 200, also on October 28.
Below, Robert Hewitt.
The three were not required to plead to the indictable charges and stood stony-faced in the dock as the charges were read to them by Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant.
The prosecutor did not object to bail for the accused, who were represented by Mohia Ma’at. However, he requested that conditions be imposed, and in the case of Barker, that bail be set at a substantial amount due to the estimated cost of the drugs.
The men were required to surrender their travel documents. Moore and Hewitt are to report to District “A” Police Station, while Barker will report to Central Police Station, every Monday, Thursday and Saturday before noon.
But it was only Hewitt who walked out of the courtroom without police escort after he was able to secure the surety. Both Moore and Barker were remanded after they were unable to get sureties for the $130 000 and $450 000 bail, respectively. They return to court on November 29.
