April 12 continuation for airport worker charged with cocaine in raincoat
Published:Thursday | March 28, 2024 | 12:10 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
JERMAINE SCOTT, who was arrested and charged after 2.5 kilogrammes of cocaine was reportedly found in a raincoat at the Sangster International Airport (SIA) in January 2023, will have to wait until April 2 to know the outcome of his trial in the St James Parish Court.
Scott, 34, got the new court date and had his bail extended on Tuesday after he finished testifying before presiding parish judge Sasha-Marie Smith-Ashley. The defendant is currently on trial on the charges of possession of cocaine, dealing in cocaine, attempting to export cocaine, and conspiracy to export cocaine.
During his evidence-in-chief, marshalled by his defence attorney Henry McCurdy, Scott testified that, on the day of his arrest on January 29, 2023, he was preparing to report for work at the airport when, on attempting to leave a restroom at the facility, he was stopped and searched by a customs officer.
“I just finished using the bathroom and I was leaving it when I saw [customs officer] and another gentleman entering, and he told me to step back into the restroom and let him give me a search. I had a hand towel in my hand and I threw it in the bin, and he went and checked the bin.Then afterward he searched me,” Scott said in recounting the officer’s actions.
“I was about to leave and he reached for a coat on the bathroom door. He held it and said, ‘This does not feel right’, then told me to step back, and he then made a call to his fellow workers that he was in the bathroom. I asked him what was that for, and he told me to step back and go against the wall. I then asked him why, and he then proceeded to pull his service firearm and told me to step back,” Scott went on, adding that he was then ordered to remove his shoes.
“Mr Scott, do you know where that coat came from?” McCurdy asked the defendant.
“No, sir,” Scott said firmly, while also denying any knowledge of cocaine being at the facility.
Under cross-examination from the prosecution, Scott denied that he had carried his own raincoat, which is part of his work uniform, into the restroom with him. He also disputed testimony from a previous witness that the customs officer came into the bathroom while he was there, insisting instead that the officer saw him exiting the bathroom.
Scott also told the court that he was taken to the customs office where he saw a substance, which was later identified as cocaine, being removed from the raincoat.
Following the close of Scott’s evidence, Smith-Ashley set the matter for continuation on April 2.
Scott, who first appeared in the St James Parish Court on February 3, 2023, was arrested at the SIA by investigators assigned to the Narcotics Division after the cocaine was allegedly found in his possession during a law enforcement operation by the Narcotics and the Customs Contraband Enforcement Team.
The cocaine reportedly had a street value of approximately US$125,000 (J$19.2 million).