By PAVEL BAILEY

TWO men were sentenced in Magistrate’s Court yesterday for separate drug charges.

Conrad Campbell, 42, of Harmony Hill, Blair Estates, appeared before Senior Magistrate Samuel McKinney on two counts of possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

On Saturday, April 2, police stopped Campbell after he was caught speeding in the Jerome Avenue area in a blue tinted Nissan Cube. Upon searching the vehicle officers uncovered a black Nike draw-string bag on the car’s front floor mat containing suspected drugs.

Inside the bag was a vacuum sealed package with a substance later positively identified as Indian hemp.

Police searched the accused‘s residence later the same day and found a black computer bag in Campbell’s bedroom containing two more vacuum sealed packages of marijuana.

In total the accused was charged with being in possession of 1.5 pounds of Indian hemp and another 1.4 pounds of the drug, which Campbell admitted to police belonged to him.

In court, Campbell pleaded guilty to both charges against him.

His attorney Deon Smith said his client had expressed remorse and had taken responsibility for his actions.

While Mr Smith acknowledged that Campbell has a prior drug conviction from 2017 he informed the magistrate that that matter is currently slated for retrial. The accused is expected to be heard before Assistant Chief Magistrate Subusola Swain on the matter again later this year.

After hearing this Magistrate McKinney accepted Campbell’s guilty plea and placed him on probation for 18 months. If he violates his probation, it would result in him spending six months in prison.

Campbell was also ordered to pay a collective fine of $3,500 for two drug charges. Failing to do so would result in nine months in prison for either charge.

The other man, Jameel Cambridge, 25, also appeared before Magistrate McKinney for possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

On April 3, Cambridge was arrested after he was found in possession of Indian hemp in 10 foil wrappings which weighed 10 grams.

In court, the accused pleaded guilty to the charge against him but due to the relatively small amount of drugs found on Cambridge the magistrate reduced his charge to simple possession.

Magistrate McKinney then sentenced Cambridge to pay a fine of $350 or spend two months in prison.

Cambridge’s mother, who was in court during sentencing, was dismayed by the ruling as she was heard saying, “I ain’t paying for no foolishness.”