Suspect walks free in drug conspiracy case
(CNS): Canute Nairn walked free from court on Friday after a judge found him not guilty of drug conspiracy charges. Nairn was one of nine people caught up in the drug trafficking case and had been charged with conspiring to import cocaine with Alexander Adrian Ebanks (25), who recently admitted a number of serious drug related charges and was handed six and a half-year jail term. The evidence against Nairn was largely based on messages between the two men, extracted from Ebanks’ phone, where they appeared to be discussing drug deals.
But it is clear from those messages that Nairn was not with Ebanks when he was in Jamaica, where he was suspected of brokering a deal to buy several kilos of cocaine.
As he delivered his verdict, Justice Michael Mettyear said that although the messages raised the suspicion of a conspiracy and that he personally believed that Nairn was most probably involved in drug dealing, he could not be certain that he had any direct involvement in this particular conspiracy charge. The judge explained that it was apparent from the telephone message evidence that Nairn was not with Ebanks when he made the deals and as a result he couldn’t be certain of his guilt on the specific charges before the court.
There are seven more suspects involved in the same conspiracy case awaiting sentencing following guilty pleas or trials after denying the allegations.
Surely the fact that the text messages revealed he wasn’t present was blindingly obvious. If the judge is correct in saying that that alone precludes a guilty verdict then what on earth w the Crown doing brining the case (or at least brining it under this charge!) A colossal waste of money and someone the judge believed was ‘most probably involved in drug dealing’ is laughing all the way home!!
So…. there couldn’t be another cellphone and of course it’s not as if it was an iPhone where messages can go to multiple devices…..
How many more cases are going to be brought to court only for the judges to throw them out on the grounds of inadequate evidence? I wonder what the annual cost of all these such cases is? Stop the fishing expeditions and waste of the judicial budget. The only winners are the lawyers who must laugh all the way to the bank.