Residents upset over 'excessive' sentence
June 12, 2007
Some residents in Hanover are upset over the case in which 26-year-old Wayne Malcolm was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment at hard labour for unlawful possession of several pounds of used and unused nails.
"People are charged with far more serious crimes and most times they get a slap on the wrist," one resident said yesterday.
Malcolm, a labourer of Baulk near Caanan, Hanover, was unrepresented at his trial. He is appealing against his conviction and sentence. He is contending that the sentence is manifestly excessive.
Attorney-at-law Melrose Reid is to make a bail application in chambers at the Court of Appeal later this month.
Resident Magistrate Wilson Smith sentenced Malcolm on May 28 after he found him guilty of the charge.
Got nails from 'trash'
Detective Sergeant Harry Morrant testified at the trial in the Lucea Resident Magistrate's Court that on April 27 he searched Malcolm's one-bedroom board house in Baulk and found a bucket with nails.
The Crown alleged that the nails weighed about 80 pounds.
Malcolm told the police he got some of the nails from a man called 'Trash' and when the police checked with 'Trash' he admitted giving Malcolm "some, but not much nails."
Malcolm also said he got some of the nails from the Fiesta Hotel site where he worked.
Author: Barbara Gayle
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
