By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterA HANOVER businessman who had been given a seven-month prison sentence for unlawful possession of US$65,000 had his sentence overturned in the Court of Appeal on Monday.
Mervin Lawrence, 36, of Round Hill Drive, Hopewell District, Hanover was freed after the court ruled that the policeman who arrested him did not have reasonable suspicion to do so. Lawrence was on bail pending the outcome of his appeal.
SWEATING
Following the court's ruling yesterday the US$65,000 will have to be returned to Lawrence.
The court said the mere fact that a man was sweating on an aeroplane was not sufficient grounds for reasonable suspicion because there could be several explanations why he was sweating.
It was also the court's ruling that the fact that Lawrence's pockets were bulging was not sufficient for reasonable suspicion that the money was unlawfully obtained.
Evidence was given at the trial that the policeman was acting on information he received from Senior Superintendent Carl Williams of the Narcotics Division when he took Lawrence off an aeroplane at the Norman Manley International Airport on November 11, 2002.
GROUND OF APPEAL
The court said if the policeman was acting on what SSP Williams told him then that was not sufficient grounds to approach Lawrence because suspicion must arise out of circumstances which the policeman perceived.
Lawrence who was represented by attorneys-at-law Jacqueline Samuel-Brown, Thalia Maragh and Sylvester Hemmings instructed by the law firm Archer and Cummings had filed several grounds of appeal
The Court of Appeal comprising Mr. Justice Donald Bingham, Mr. Justice Clarence Walker and Mr. Justice Howard Cooke allowed the appeal on the ground that there was no reasonable suspicion which was a requirement of the Unlawful Possession of Property Act.
Lawrence, who owns a cellular store known as TS Cellular Sales, was about to leave the island for Panama when Corporal Martin Morgan took him off the aeroplane. Lawrence was told to empty his trousers pocket and his shirt pocket which had a total of US$$65, 000. He was taken to the Narcotics Division and was arrested and charged on November 14, 2002.
In December 2002 Lawrence testified at his trial that one Keith McIntosh, an accountant and businessman who operates the One Stop Super Savings Store at 8 Market Circle, Montego Bay had given him US$30,000 to buy car rims and car accessories for him. He said the other $35,000 belonged to him, adding that the money was obtained from his business and he was going to Panama to buy goods.
McIntosh testified at the trial that he had given Lawrence US$30,000 to buy goods for him.
Resident Magistrate Jennifer Straw found Lawrence guilty of the charge and in sentencing him in February 2003 said that Lawrence had failed to account satisfactorily as to how he came by lawful means of the money. The RM said when Lawrence was first held by the police he failed to tell the police the sum of money McIntosh had given him.
