Taxi driver freed of drug charges

Taxi driver Delroy Johnson was freed today of charges of attempting to export cocaine concealed in Foska Oats boxes by Parish Judge Paula Blake Powell.

After the Crown closed its case, Johnson gave an unsworn statement in which he explained that he was not guilty of the charges and was just making deliveries for which he was hired to do.

He said after he dropped off the boxes at the warehouse in December 2020, they were signed for and he had no knowledge what the boxes contained. He said he had nothing to do with the packing of the boxes.

Attorney-at-law Michael Thomas Shorter who represented Johnson then submitted in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court that he should be freed because the Crown did not prove its case against him.

Shorter said further that there was no proof that the accused had possession and control of the boxes or had knowledge of what was in the boxes.

The judge agreed and entered a not guilty verdict.

Johnson was charged jointly with businessman Mordecai Buckley with possession of cocaine, attempting to export cocaine, dealing in cocaine and trafficking in cocaine.

Buckley was freed last week following a no case submission made by King's Counsel Peter Champagnie and attorney-at-law Samoi Campbell.

On December 21, 2020, Buckley was allegedly attempting to export goods from the Norman Manley International Airport when the cocaine was found in sealed Foska Oats boxes. Crown witnesses had testified that Buckley was not at the warehouse when the sealed boxes were delivered and did not pick them up until the morning of the shipment.

The defence relied on the evidence of an employee from the Customs Department who said under cross-examination that the anomalies with the boxes were not readily apparent without putting the boxes through a scanner.

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