Treston Brown, who on Sept. 8, 2014 was fined $45,000 by Magistrate Ayanna Baptiste-DaBreo for the unlawful possession of marijuana, won his appeal against the sentence at the Court of Appeal on July 22.
Mr. Brown, who was represented by defence attorney Patrick Thompson, had his fine reduced to $5,000.
“The court, having heard the submissions of both counsel, having noted the prosecution’s concession that the sentence was excessive, and having had regard to the precedent presented to the court, held that in all the circumstances a fine of $5,000 would be appropriate,” the court stated in its decision.
Mr. Brown was instructed to pay his reduced fine by Oct. 30, or serve a sentence of two months imprisonment.
He had been found guilty of possessing 295 grams of cannabis after police found it while executing a search warrant at his residence to look for stolen electrical items.
Information about the appeal outcome was included recently in a “digest of decisions” featured on the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court of Appeals’ newly revamped website.