Barbados jury clears sailor Walter Prescod on three cannabis charges
An 8–1 jury verdict acquitted Walter Oneal Prescod of importing and possessing 121.4 kg of cannabis found on the Goddard Enterprises yacht Ecstasy in 2018.
Prescod walks free after eight-to-one not-guilty verdicts on all counts
A Barbados Supreme Court jury has acquitted former Goddard Enterprises sailor Walter Oneal Prescod of three drug charges linked to 121.4 kilogrammes of cannabis discovered aboard the company yacht Ecstasy in 2018, Barbados Today reports.
The jury in No. 4 Supreme Court took just over an hour before informing Justice Laurie-Ann Smith Bovell that it had not reached a unanimous decision. The jurors returned minutes later with eight-to-one not-guilty verdicts on all three counts — possessing cannabis within Barbados' territorial waters, importing it, and possessing it for the purpose of trafficking, offences dated July 23, 2018.
Leaving the Supreme Court Complex in his wife's embrace, Prescod declined to address reporters at length, saying only: "God is good. Have a Merry Christmas." He then gave the assembled press a thumbs-up.
His defence attorney Sade Harris said: "It was a lot of hard work but I believe that justice has prevailed in this matter."
Three arrested in 2018; charges against two board members later dropped
Prescod was originally charged alongside two Goddard Enterprises board members: then-chairman Charles Herbert and director Christopher Rogers. All three were arrested in connection with the drugs found aboard the yacht. A year after the arrests, the Director of Public Prosecutions dropped the charges against Herbert and Rogers, citing insufficient evidence. Both men subsequently appeared as State witnesses and told the court they had no knowledge of the drugs.
Prescod's account: cancer bills, a contact in Grenada, and a request to 'take the rap'
The court heard that Prescod had told police he was personally responsible for the cannabis. In his account to officers, he said he needed money to purchase expensive cancer medication for his wife and that, while in Grenada, he had arranged with an unnamed man to obtain marijuana for sale to buyers in Barbados.
Prescod described how that man collected him in a jeep and drove to the dockyard where the Ecstasy was berthed for maintenance. In his words to investigators: "This was around midday. I helped the guy take the marijuana from the jeep and put it in the vessel. They move four sugar bags, one black bag and four taped packages with the marijuana. The guy placed the marijuana in the area next to the water tanks. He is smaller than I am, so I allowed him to place the marijuana in the areas. After he placed the marijuana in the areas, I locked back up the vessel and we both left."
He told officers that Rogers and Herbert had no involvement.
Unsworn statement: 'Rogers offered me to take the rap'
Opting to make an unsworn statement from the dock rather than testify under oath, Prescod put a different account before the jury regarding how he came to admit responsibility. He said: "Before we were charged, we were placed in a cell close together. While there, before we were charged, Mr Rogers, in the presence of Mr Herbert, quickly offered me to take the rap, so he could get home. I ask him 'Why?' He said something to the effect that he would stupidly give me back my job. Those were the words he said. So I paused for a little while before answering and I said 'okay'. I say to myself that it would give me some money to help pay bills cause my wife was sick and that would help because I didn't have the money. So then we were formally charged and now I am here before the court."
Both Herbert and Rogers denied in their testimony that they had made any such offer or promised Prescod he could keep his employment in exchange for accepting responsibility for the packages.
Legal representation
Prescod was represented by defence attorneys Sade Harris and Elan Greenidge. The prosecution was conducted by Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale SC and Acting Senior State Counsel Paul Prescod. The case had drawn significant national attention when it first broke in 2018, given the prominent corporate figures initially implicated alongside the former sailor.
Source: Barbados Today