A MAN caught bringing 20 kilos of cannabis worth £58,000 into the country through Gatwick Airport insisted he was not involved in a commercial drug operation.
Instead, mechanic Aldwin Renardo Gooden, 44, told a court he wanted the drug to put in his bath, on his porridge, to cook with, to rub into his joints and for his cannabis smoking habit of six ounces a day.
However, his claims did not save him from a jail sentence at Croydon Crown Court where he was jailed for two years and three months after pleading guilty to importing two packages of herbal cannabis on October 4 last year.
Gooden, of Gilbert Grove, Crosland Moor, was caught at Gatwick Airport after stepping off a flight from Kingston, Jamaica.
Gooden told the court he is of the Rastafarian religion and was given the cannabis for free by an “elder” during a trip to his native Jamaica.
He insisted he needed large quantities of the drug to cook with his meals, put in his porridge, bathe in, smoke and mix with Jamaican white rub to apply to his painful joints.
“In my work I lie on a cold floor during the winter, the garage is really cold and is bad for my joints,” explained Gooden.
But his claims were met with disbelief by the judge, Recorder Peter Susman QC, who said: “I find his evidence inconsistent and unbelievable.
“He says his motivation for importing cannabis is that he cannot afford to buy it, but he also tells me he had no knowledge of its street value.
“I was also puzzled by the fact he did not go to a doctor for treatment for joint pain.
“If he got that pain from lying on a cold garage floor why doesn’t he put a blanket underneath himself?
“It is a very large quantity. He was a drugs courier importing this amount, knowing what he was doing in order to make money from it,” added Recorder Susman.
The court also heard Gooden had been convicted of growing cannabis in 2005.
