They didn't fit the profile of persons regularly accused of drug trafficking and that's why it made news when Three young men - Adrian Balderamos, Matthew Stock and Frederick Gomez- who were charged with trafficking about 14 pounds of marijuana and possession of a glass pipe.
And just so it's news tonight because they were acquitted of the charges today in Magistrate's Court.
Senior Magistrate Sharon Fraser acquitted them after she upheld a submission made by their attorneys Michael Peyrefitte and Dickie Bradley, that they did not have a case answer to. Peyrefitte submitted that there was no chain of custody for the 6,563 grams of cannabis that was found at a house on Barrack Road on January 3rd, 2010.
According to the evidence, only Balderamos was at the house at the time and Stock and Gomez were not there until when the police went back to the house the following day.
The evidence showed that the arresting officers took the cannabis to the exhibit keeper sealed and he broke the seal when he detained Stock and Gomez to show it to them.
Bradley who represented Stock said it was never established that any of the men lived at the house where the cannabis and alleged pipe found. Bradley said there was no link between his client and the drugs that were found.
The alleged glass pipe tuned out to be a sex toy.
Mary Gomez, a fourth defendant, was freed of the charges in June when they were withdrawn from her by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
