Senior citizen freed of cocaine smuggling charges
Published:Thursday | September 5, 2024 | 12:13 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
A senior citizen who was accused of attempting to ship nearly six ounces of cocaine in a gear box to England was yesterday freed of cocaine charges in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.
Elaine Young, a 65-year-old resident of Ocho Rios, St Ann, was freed of possession of cocaine, dealing in cocaine, attempting to export cocaine and conspiracy to export cocaine after Parish Judge Paula Blake Powell upheld a no-case submission.
During the trial, which started on March 7, the prosecution led evidence that Young shipped the car part with the drugs concealed in a package from the DHL office in Ocho Rios, destined for England.
When the package arrived at Kingston CSO branch, the following day, it was checked, tested and a white powdery substance resembling cocaine was found within the clutch. The substance was confirmed to be cocaine weighing 5.78 ounces.
Young was tracked by the police and arrested and charged. She has however maintained that she was asked by someone to ship the item and did not know that there was contraband inside the package.
Attorney-at-law Chadwick Berry argued on Young’s behalf during the no-case submission that the prosecution could not prove knowledge and that she should be discharged.
Berry also challenged the chain of custody for the package while highlighting that the prosecution could not identify who had transported the package from St Ann to Kingston and whether anyone else had interacted with the package.
The prosecution, he said further, was also unclear about whether the package was in the same condition when the contraband was found as it was when it was dropped off by his client.
The prosecution, in response, conceded that it could not mount a successful case against the accused and offered no further evidence.
The judge, as a result, handed down a formal verdict of not guilty before discharging Young.