The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN, whose police station wedding drew a firestorm of criticism last year, withdrew his challenge yesterday to a conviction for possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

Kendrick Tinker, 35, appeared in the Court of Appeal concerning his conviction for possessing 50 pounds of marijuana to which he pleaded guilty in a return appearance in Magistrate’s Court in July 2014.

He had been arraigned four months earlier concerning a seizure on March 7, 2014.

On the day in question, around 7am, police Mobile Division officers were on patrol at Potter’s Cay Dock when they saw a mailboat employee hand over a package to two men who then got into a waiting vehicle and drove off.

Police intercepted the vehicle and upon searching, discovered the package containing 50 pounds of what was suspected to be marijuana.

The three men in the vehicle were arrested and taken into police custody.

Tinker’s appeal was launched on the basis that four years was not proportionate to the amount of drugs involved in the commission of the offence.

However, Tinker withdrew the appeal yesterday on the basis that he had already had his sentence reduced by half in a re-sentencing hearing late last year.

Last September, then-Senior Justice Jon Isaacs of the Supreme Court handed down a ruling in the constitutional motion of Barrington Robinson where he declared that the mandatory minimum sentence for possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply was unconstitutional.

Tinker had a controversial wedding in the Central Police Station last March, shortly after he was arrested on the drug charges. Afterwards, Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade said he was “embarrassed” by the incident, adding that four officers were suspended as a result.