Woman to pay $1.5K for drugs found in her home

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Aminata Joseph-Wilson and her husband Rayan Aston Wilson leaving the St John’s Magistrates’ Court yesterday
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By Latrishka Thomas

A Gray’s Farm woman now owes the state $1,500 after she was found guilty of having 43 grams of cannabis in her home in Barbuda.

Aminata Joseph-Wilson, 23, and her husband Rayan Aston Wilson, 48, of Jamaica, were both charged with possession of cannabis on Wednesday.

On July 19 at around 4.15pm, a search warrant was executed on their premises in Codrington, Barbuda, and at the time, only the young woman was at home.

While searching the property, the officers found a water bottle on a washing machine, which was concealed in a pair of jeans.

The bottle contained several Ziploc bags with what appeared to be the controlled drug, cannabis.

On a table next to the machine, was a Rockstar drink can with more Ziploc bags.

Lawmen found a total of 51 small bags in the home.

The defendant, Aminata, along with the contraband, were taken to Barbuda Police Station where the drugs were weighed.

The bushy substance amounted to 43 grams but as the contents of each bag was worth $10, they amounted to a total street value of $510.

When the couple appeared before Chief Magistrate Joanne Walsh in the St John’s Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Aminata admitted to the crime while her husband pleaded not guilty.

The prosecution withdrew the charge against Rayan.

Aminata’s lawyer, Wendel Robinson, pleaded for leniency from the court, noting that his client had pleaded guilty at the first possible opportunity, has a 15-month-old child, and had been in police custody for two days before she was charged.

He said that although his client has one prior conviction for a similar offence, it was a small amount of cannabis.

The woman was then ordered to pay $1,500 to the court by the end of August.

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