A St Michael teen who admitted to having “a little exotic weed” in his possession will have to complete 80 hours of community service if he wants to keep his criminal record clean.
Romario Rohand Cozier of Waterhall Land, Eagle Hall was in the Black Rock area yesterday when police stopped him.
Before a search could be conducted, he pulled out a small knife and told lawmen it was all he had in his possession. However, when searched, he was found to have 14 wrappings of vegetable matter, suspected to be cannabis.
“That is just a little exotic weed. I sorry for this, you want me to pay you to drop this?” he reportedly told police at the time.
Today, attorney-at-law Shadia Simpson appealed for leniency on behalf of her client telling Magistrate Douglas Frederick the offence stemmed from a stressful situation.
“He had an argument with his girlfriend last night and that’s why he had the drug. I told him he had to find better coping methods to deal with stressful situations,” Simpson said, even as she urged the magistrate to impose community service on her client, who was previously not known to the court.
Speaking on his own behalf, Cozier said he was introduced to the illicit drug three weeks ago by a friend who said “it could get [rid of] problems . . . but it put me in real problems”.
The secondary school dropout said he aspired to become a jockey and would not be making the same mistake again.
“I don’t want to see your name in my book again,” the magistrate advised the teen after having a candid conversation with him about drugs and sports.
“They don’t go together, stay away from the drugs,” Frederick said.
“I am sorry for my stupidity,” said Cozier, who returns to court on December 8 for an update on his community service.
