A prosecutor yesterday conceded that there was no evidence to connect Melvin Maycock Sr. to firearms and ammunition found inside a rented villa in 2008.
In November, Magistrate Carolita Bethell found Maycock guilty of possessing 1,200 pounds of marijuana, worth $1.2 million, three firearms and an assortment of ammunition that police seized from an apartment on May 17, 2008.
Maycock is appealing in the Court of Appeal.
Officers from the drug squad breached the premises after staking the building out for a day. There is no evidence that Maycock was seen leaving or entering the premises while it was under surveillance.
The building was empty when the officers entered and found the contraband.
Police also found Maycock's Bible, a Rolex watch box guarantee from 2001, and a vacuum sealer machine that had a fingerprint impression from Maycock's right index finger, according to the evidence.
Maycock's attorney, Wayne Munroe, argued on Thursday that the vacuum sealer machine was portable and no one could say when it was brought to the premises.
He noted that police also found the passport of Maycock's co-accused Kerrington Knowles in the building, but he was acquitted at the close of the prosecution's case.
Munroe pointed out that the building was leased by Knowles' sister.
In response, the prosecutor, Eucal Bonaby, said that an irresistible inference could be drawn that the machine was used to package drugs.
However, he admitted in the absence of the fingerprint there was no other evidence to connect Maycock to the drugs. When asked if there was any evidence to connect Maycock to the firearms and ammunition, Bonaby reluctantly admitted that there was not.
Court President Anita Allen, Christopher Blackman and Stanley John have reserved their decision.
They asked the defense and prosecution to make submissions on the relative leniency of Maycock's three-year long sentence. Blackman noted that the drugs were valued at more than $1 million, yet persons convicted of having drugs worth less have received tougher sentences and fines.
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
