Gomes convicted on drugs, ammo charges 10 years after being discharged

Ten years ago Justice Herbert Volney - who is now a cabinet minister - discharged Rick Anthony Gomes on drugs charges and granted him bail on charges of possessing a gun and ammunition.

On Saturday, at a special sitting of the High Court a 9-member jury found Gomes guilty on the same charges - possession of cocaine and a gun and ammunition.

Gomes was convicted on charges of possession of 18 packets of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking; possession of a .32 revolver and possession of four rounds of .32 ammunition.

On Wednesday, Justice Gillian Lucky will determine an appropriate sentence for Gomes.

Police laid the charges after they found one of the cocaine packets inside the trunk of a vehicle that Gomes rented and the other 17 packets at his home in St. Ann's on May 15, 1998. The drugs had a street value of about $13 million.

Justice Volney presided at Gomes' trial in 1999 and at the close of the prosecution's case the judge upheld a defence no-case submission on the drugs charge and discharged Gomes. He granted bail on the gun and ammunition charges and Gomes subsequently left the country.

On February 11, 2000 the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial of Gomes and a co-defendant although Gomes was not in the country.

Gomes was arrested abroad in 2006 but resisted extradition to face trial in Trinidad, claiming "appalling" prison conditions in the country but a judge in London ordered his extradition earlier this year.