TARIK MERCURIOUS, AN English soldier facing cocaine charges, will return to the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court today. He appeared on Tuesday.
Mercurious is charged jointly with countrywoman Rosemarie Blake, 20, who pleaded guilty. She was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment at hard labour and fined $500,000 for possession of, dealing in and taking steps to export 875 grams of cocaine.
However Mercurious' attorney again pleaded not guilty and asked Resident Magistrate Martin Gayle to consider the fact that the woman had pleaded guilty and accepted responsibility for the crime. The attorney noted that his client was not involved in any other illegal matter.
However when his attorney learnt that he had not received all the statements from the prosecution, he asked for another mention date to allow time for him to review them.
It is alleged that on May 22, at 8 p.m., the accused checked in at the Norman Manley International Airport to board an Air Jamaica flight to London, England. Blake was searched and the drug was found in two bottles of rum and two pairs of slippers. When she was arrested, she told police she was travelling with Mercurious and his bags were searched.
Two bottles and a pair of slippers containing cocaine were also found in his luggage. He was arrested and charged with possession of, dealing in and taking steps to export cocaine.
It is alleged that when Blake was arrested she told police that Mercurious had packed her suitcases and given her the items to take back to England.
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