Three men facing separate indictable charges related to illegal firearms, ammunition and drug trafficking have been ordered into pre-trial detention at Dodds Prison, with their next court appearance scheduled for November 10.
The accused appeared this week before acting Magistrate Shakieda Sealy at the No. 2 District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court, with each hailing from different parishes across Barbados. The youngest of the three, 18-year-old Ajani Ricardo Cooper, resides at Longford Place, Waterford, Bush Hall in the parish of St Michael. He stands accused of being in possession of an unlicensed firearm and two rounds of ammunition, with the alleged offense taking place on October 9.
Twenty-three-year-old Malcolm Ajani Hazzard, a resident of Husbands, St Lucy, faces identical firearm-related charges from the same date, though he is accused of holding 41 rounds of ammunition rather than the two Cooper is accused of possessing. The third defendant, 27-year-old Jamar Jamalli Rowe of Endeavour #1, Orange Hill, St James, faces more extensive charges. Rowe is accused of illegal possession of a firearm and six rounds of ammunition on October 10, one day after the offenses linked to Cooper and Hazzard. Beyond the firearm charges, he also faces allegations of possessing 410 grammes of cannabis — a quantity classified as traffickable under local law, with an estimated street value of 2,050 Barbadian dollars — and intending to supply the illegal drug to others.
Under the jurisdiction’s court procedures, the three men were not required to enter formal pleas to the indictable charges against them, which are reserved for trial at a higher level of court. Ahead of their November 10 hearing, all three have been remanded into custody at Dodds Prison. Case management procedures have split the proceedings across two local courts: Hazzard and Rowe’s cases have been transferred to the Holetown Magistrates’ Court, while Cooper’s case will remain in the Bridgetown court system for the continuation of proceedings.