Jury to deliver verdict in $13m ganja cultivation case

- File photo

A PORT OF SPAIN JURY is expected to deliver its verdict in a multimillion-dollar marijuana cultivation case on January 8.

Justice Nalini Singh is expected to sum up the case to the jury before they are allowed to retire to deliberate on their verdict.

Before the court is Duane Caldon, of Mundo Nuevo, who was charged on September 26, 2011, with the cultivation of 18,000 fully grown marijuana plants and approximately 3,200 seedlings. The prosecution alleged that the plants occupied an area equivalent to about four lots of land in a forested area off Mendoza Road, Mundo Nuevo, Talparo.

The street value estimate of the drugs was $13 million at the time.

Caldon is represented by Senior Counsel Israel Khan and Arissa Maharaj. Maria Lyons-Edwards and Khi Milan Cambridge are prosecuting.

The trial took one day, and the state’s only witness was PC Brewster, who testified that he and approximately 12 other police officers, acting on information from a police informer, went to the forested area where they allegedly observed Caldon weeding marijuana plants. Brewster said Caldon was arrested at the scene and, when asked whether he had permission or authority to plant marijuana, replied that he did not. He was subsequently charged.

However, under cross-examination by Khan, Brewster conceded that despite the presence of multiple officers during the exercise, he had no other witnesses to corroborate his account that Caldon was seen tending the plants. He also admitted that he had no photographs to support the claim that the marijuana field contained as many as 18,000 plants.

Brewster testified that he had lost his pocket diary, in which he recorded the accused’s alleged admission that he was tending the plants without authority. Although he said the same information was recorded in the station diary, he did not produce an extract of that record in court.

Khan suggested that the case rested entirely on Brewster’s evidence that he saw the accused tending to the plants. Khan further suggested to Brewster that Caldon was arrested about a quarter-mile away from the marijuana field and was never seen tending to any plants. Brewster rejected that suggestion and maintained that he was telling the truth.

When called upon by the court to present his defence, Caldon exercised his right to remain silent. Khan also opted not to make a closing address.