OPPOSITION LEADER: PROBE EXTREMELY LENIENT FINE IMPOSED ON MEN GUILTY OF MARIJUANA CULTIVATION AND POSSESSION OF AN ILLEGAL HIGH-POWERED RIFLE. THIS LENIENT FINE IS AN INSULT TO THE HARDWORKING POLICE OFFICERS WHO TREKKED 12 KILOMETERS INTO THE FOREST TO APPREHEND THESE CRIMINALS AS WELL AS TO A POPULATION BESIEGED BY VIOLENT CRIME FUELED BY ILLEGAL DRUG TRAFFICKING. THE HIGH-POWERED RIFLE MAY HAVE BEEN USED IN SHOOTINGS OR MURDERS, WAS A BALLISTIC REPORT CONSIDERED IN THE COURSE OF SENTENCING?
The Director of Public Prosecutions, the Chief Justice, and the Judicial and Legal Services Commission must immediately undertake separate independent investigations into the scandalously light fine of $10,000. Any fine to be imposed should have at least been proportionate to the $3.2 million dollar value of the marijuana. This sentence must be appealed.
The penalty is appallingly inappropriate and is counter to the uncontested evidence in the midst of a national campaign against violent lawlessness. The accused men pleaded guilty to the offence of possessing cannabis, and possession of a prohibited weapon and ammunition.
They were cultivating more than 1,000 fully-grown marijuana trees and had an estimated 1,000 seedlings on four acres of land, the total value of which was estimated at $3.2 million.
The high-powered rifle may have been used in shootings or murders, was a ballistic report considered in the course of sentencing?
The Master of the High Court must be called upon by the relevant authorities to properly account for this extremely lenient sentence. This light fine is an insult to the hardworking police officers who trekked 12 kilometers into the forest to apprehend these criminals as well as to a population besieged by violent crime fueled by illegal drug trafficking.
The investigating police officers and the relevant prosecutor must be commended for diligently undertaking their professional duties.
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