Sole remaining defendant freed in 2021 airport cocaine smuggling case
Published:Wednesday | March 20, 2024 | 12:10 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
The St James Parish Court has upheld a no-case submission concerning the case of Indra Waite, who was accused of conspiring to smuggle over 11 kilograms of cocaine on to a Canada-bound flight in 2021, thereby freeing her of the charges which were laid against her.
Waite, who was on trial in relation to the charges of possession of criminal property and aiding and abetting, and was represented by attorney Henry McCurdy, was freed following a ruling from presiding parish judge Sasha-Marie Ashley on Tuesday.
In outlining her decision, Ashley cited inconsistencies and lack of connectivity among the testimony given by the five prosecution witnesses in the case against Waite, on whose behalf McCurdy had previously made the no-case submission.
“An officer came and testified that on the 29 October (2021) at 6 p.m., she was part of a team of officers who took Ms Waite to an address on Salt Spring Road in St James; Ms Waite took her to a room that she identified as hers, and from a closet she took $90,000 and said ‘This is the rest of the money’,” said Ashley, reading from her notes in summing up the trial evidence.
“I have $90,000 being handed over by Ms Waite, I have interviews, but only a record of one part of the interviews, and that’s all I have. I have dots with absolutely no connecting lines; I have no clue what this case is about. And so, I am duty bound to say that the no-case submission must succeed,” Ashley continued, before subsequently freeing Waite of the charges.
According to the allegations in the case, on October 10, 2021, a bag with 11.4 kilograms of cocaine, valued at $88.1 million, was placed on board a Sun Wing aircraft which was scheduled to depart for Canada from the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay. The cocaine was intercepted at the Toronto Pearson International Airport in Canada and one person was arrested in that country in relation to the seizure.
THREE OTHERS CHARGED
Waite, who was an airport supervisor at the time of her arrest, was charged alongside three other defendants – Brelanie Reid, Tavon Murray, and Romaine Kerr – in relation to the investigation into the cocaine seizure.
Waite was the sole remaining defendant in the matter at the start of her trial on November 16, 2022, after the other three co-defendants were freed of their respective charges at various points prior to that trial date.
Murray, who was charged with conspiracy to export cocaine, was freed at the start of the trial on November 16, 2022 after the prosecution dropped the conspiracy charge against all of the defendants. Kerr, who was charged with possession of, dealing in, and attempting to export cocaine, was freed on July 4, 2023 due to the prosecution’s inability to present a solid case against him, while Reid, who was charged for breaching the Civil Aviation Act, was freed on September 7, 2023 following a no-case submission.
During the trial against Waite, one of the prosecution’s police witnesses testified on October 3, 2023 and again on October 20 that year that the defendant was interviewed on October 29, 2021, during which she gave a statement that contradicted previous information supplied to the officer on October 10 that year.
Additionally, the prosecution attempted on October 3 and 20 to show a caution statement to the witness, but both attempts were overruled on the basis that there was nothing to indicate the witness was present at the time when the caution statement was completed by Waite.