Absent witness stalls GDF flagship drug bust inquiry
Guyana Chronicle
October 28, 2003
THE absence of a witness yesterday caused the preliminary inquiry (PI) into the charges that followed the Army flagship drug bust to be adjourned until next Friday.
Seko Dickinson, a Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard able rating on the 'GDFS Essequibo', was to continue his testimony before Magistrate Maxwell Edwards but did not attend Court.
Dickinson had been sworn on a previous occasion and completed his evidence-in-chief but was only partially cross-examined by Defence Counsel Vic Puran.
In the case, Wayne Inniss, of Lot 130 Lamaha Springs, Georgetown and Shandy Stephens, of Lot 118 Dacama Circle, Mackenzie, Linden, are jointly charged with conspiracy to traffick in 60 kilogrammes 681 grammes of cannabis (marijuana) between May 1 and 11 this year.
Inniss alone faces a separate charge of trafficking the same amount of marijuana by exporting it.
The narcotic was discovered aboard the naval vessel when it docked in Barbados to participate in the Caribbean regional 'Exercise Tradewinds'.
The ex-soldiers, who remain remanded prisoners, were dishonourably discharged from the GDF after an internal probe and handed over to Police for the criminal investigation.
They were originally charged summarily but, last August 12, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) instituted the fresh charges and the others were put down sine die (indefinitely).