No search warrant leads taxi driver to be freed of unlawful possession of credit and debit cards

The absence of a search warrant led to taxi  driver, Ricardo Smith, being freed yesterday of unlawful possession of property in relation to a large number of credit and debit cards that the police found in 2020 at a premises which Smith occupied in the Kingston 11 area.

When the matter came before the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court, attorney-at-law Hugh Wildman, who represented Smith, asked the clerk of the courts for the search warrant but there was none.

Wildman then submitted that without a search warrant, the police would have no legal basis to go to the premises. He said without a search warrant, there would be no evidence of the accused being in unlawful possession of the items.

The defence attorney said that under the Unlawful Possession of Property Act, the Crown must establish a prima facie case of unlawful possession and it was at that stage that an accused is called upon to explain on a balance of probabilities by which lawful means he came in possession of the items.

The prosecution then offered no evidence against Smith.

Wildman then asked the judge not to just discharge the accused but to record a formal verdict of not guilty and the judge agreed.

When the police conducted a search at the premises on April 3, 2020, they allegedly found items including a point-of-sale machine, card skimming device, 300 blank debit/credit cards, 292 debit/credit cards, 89 debt/credit cards, 23 credit cards, 89 blank credit cards, 61 debit cards and seven visa debit cards bearing the names of local and overseas financial institutions.

- Barbara Gayle

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