Frenchman on cocaine charges instructed to get a lawyer
Published:Friday | August 2, 2024 | 12:07 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
A Frenchman who is accused of swallowing 110 pellets of cocaine, which he had planned to smuggle out of Jamaica, made his first appearance in the St James Parish Court last Friday and was instructed to retain the services of a lawyer for his next court appearance on October 11.
Cedric Maoudo, who is charged with possession of, dealing in, and attempting to export two pounds and 7.4 ounces of cocaine, was remanded after requesting the services of an attorney. He made the request to presiding judge Kaysha Grant-Pryce through an interpreter, as he speaks very little English.
“He would like to be able to have an attorney, as he says that he has to go to school in September and his partner is alone with their child. He would like to get an attorney and have the matter put off for another day,” the interpreter, who spoke to the court via phone, told the court.
“What he is saying is that he wants a lawyer and to be able to make contact with his family to arrange payment for the lawyer and for the matter to be called up on a different day,” explained the interpreter.
During the hearing, the prosecution revealed that the forensic certificate, which is to verify the exact weight of the cocaine which was allegedly seized from Maoudo, was outstanding from its case-file and that it would not be ready until September 18.
Grant-Pryce subsequently set the case for mention on October 11 and remanded Maoudo until that date. An order was made for his fingerprints to be taken. The investigating officer was also bound over to complete the file.
According to the allegations, on July 18, about 3:45 p.m., Maoudo was at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James, preparing to board a flight to Brussels, Belgium, when he was stopped at the security checkpoint and interviewed by airport personnel. His suitcase was searched and 23 parcels of a white substance, later identified as cocaine weighing 7.4 ounces, were found.
Maoudo was subsequently taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital, where he excreted 110 pellets with a white substance identified as cocaine between July 18 and 22. The pellets weighed approximately two pounds.
When cautioned by the police, Maoudo reportedly said that a man who drove a grey Honda motor vehicle had given him the contraband and paid him 7,000 Euros. He was subsequently arrested and charged.
Maoudo’s case is the most recent of several cocaine-related matters involving foreign nationals that have been brought before the St James Parish Court in recent months.
Other recent cases include that of Sianece Clarke-Johnson, a British woman who was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment on June 26 for trying to smuggle $7.6 million worth of cocaine out of Jamaica inside a number of craft items on February 26; and Faina Rwenhamo, another British national who was sentenced on July 17 to pay a fine of $400,000 or to spend six months in prison for trying to smuggle $7.5 million worth of cocaine inside craft items on June 16.
Additionally, 44-year-old Dutch national Patrick Crawford pleaded guilty on July 25 in relation to reports that he tried to smuggle nine pounds of cocaine, valued at $28.3 million and hidden in false compartments in his suitcase, on to an outgoing flight to Brussels on May 9. He will be sentenced on September 11.