A nine-member jury last Thursday delivered their verdict in a case before the High Court that saw Bequia chef Gabriel ‘Goofie’ Hutchins freed of cocaine charges while his Trinidadian co-accused Junior ‘Southie’ Gomez, who was absent for the entire trial, was found guilty on all counts.
Hutchins and Gomez were jointly charged that on November 8, 2015, they had in their possession 10,892 grams of cocaine, with intent to supply.
They were also charged that on November 8, 2015, they had in their possession a controlled drug for the purpose of drug trafficking; importing a controlled drug for the purpose of drug trafficking; and conspiring with each other between November 1 and 7, 2015, to commit the offence of drug trafficking.
The cocaine, with an estimated street value of $560,700, was packaged and stashed in four of 12 five-gallon buckets of paint offloaded from M.V. Admiral 3 at Port Elizabeth, Bequia, on November 6, 2015.
Hutchins did not take the witness stand. The defense relied on the interview he gave to police following his arrest.
Hutchins’ case essentially was that he and Gomez had discussed a conch and lobster export business. As a result, he went to Trinidad to purchase equipment for the business.
The Bequia chef said he left Trinidad before the equipment was shipped but it was arranged that Gomez would ship them to this country. Subsequently, Gomez contacted him and asked him to receive a shipment of paint from Trinidad.
According to Hutchins, Gomez travelled to this country a day before the ship arrived here. He went down to Bequia the following day, on November 6, 2015.
Acting on information received, police went to a warehouse on Bequia and seized the shipment of paint and arrested Hutchins who was in the process of moving the buckets.
Gomez was subsequently arrested.
Hutchins was represented by Grant Connell while Gomez was represented by Israel Bruce.
Asked for comment following the verdict, Connell said: “IF the police applied basic investigation skills, Mr Hutchins would not have been charged. They always put the cart before the horse.
The police never went on the vessel, never saw the bill of laden until after the seizure of buckets that were at variance in size and content. They never checked Interpol or the authorities in Trinidad to run a parallel investigation.
The source of the paint that they alleged contained controlled substance was not even verified before they came to conclusion.
The one-gallon buckets as stated on the bill of laden were never recovered and, to date, there is no document that states five-gallon buckets of paint entered the customs on that day.
The list of unmanifested goods were never presented so the only person who is not guessing as to what really transpired on that boat is God.”
Connell further stated: “Police need to be trained and they need more resources to do their job effectively. When mistakes are made at that level, people can suffer. Their life can be ruined, character assassinated and justice can go begging simply because police don’t apply the basics.
“It’s the A and E of justice. If the legal injury is not addressed properly it develops to a point when it gets to trial not much the learned DPP can do, hence my humble suggestions to make sure that institution is given priority, or justice will pay the ultimate price.”
When contacted for comment, Bruce, who is out of state, said: “I was remarkably struck when I found out that Mr Gomez was found guilty on all three charges.”
He said, however, that the jurisprudential system here is one which has judge and jury and the jurors are lay people.
Bruce said that there a charge of conspiracy and his client was found guilty of it but his co-accused was acquitted. He contended that if the charge was that Gomez and another person, or Gomez, Hutchins, and another person conspired then he could see the verdict being returned in the way it was.
He asked how can Hutchins and Gomez, two identified persons, enter into a conspiracy but only one is found guilty.
“I have tremendous difficulty with the verdict,” Bruce said, adding that he believed it makes for an interesting case before the appellate judges.
Bruce said if he is able to make contact with Gomez his chambers will advise him to surrender to the jurisdiction of the court. He said that if Gomez does surrender to the court and he wishes to continues to his chambers will no doubt advise him to take the matter to the court of appeal.
