Former Goddard Enterprises chairman Charles Herbert denied promising accused Walter Prescod that he could keep his job if he accepted responsibility for packages found aboard a yacht.
Prescod, of Emerald Park East, St Philip, has denied possessing 121.4 kilogrammes of cannabis within Barbados’ territorial waters, importing it and having a traffickable quantity of the illegal substance on July 23, 2018.
Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale SC and acting Senior State Counsel Paul Prescod are representing the State, while defence attorneys Sade Harris and Elan Greenidge represent Prescod.
Testifying in the No. 4 Supreme Court before Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell and a nine-member jury, Herbert said several people, including himself, captain Christopher Rogers and the accused, travelled from Barbados to Grenada aboard the yacht Ecstasy, which was headed for maintenance. They stopped at a few islands along the way.
He said that, on arrival in Grenada, the boat was hauled out and he immediately returned to Barbados. Prescod remained, having been employed to stay with the vessel during maintenance. Herbert could not recall when Rogers had left.
When maintenance was completed, and it was time for the boat to return, Herbert said he travelled to Grenada on July 19.
He said: “I would not normally make that trip. Chris would often hire a captain to bring the boat back to Barbados, or he would have other people that he would hire because the trip back is not pleasant. In this case, he could not get the people, and he asked if I would come and assist him.”
He said he spent that night aboard the boat. The next morning, after a short delay, he, Rogers, and Prescod sailed to Carriacou and Bequia, spent a night aboard the ship at each stop, then headed to Barbados, where they arrived at 11 p.m.
Following standard procedure, they contacted the signal station and were instructed to bring the boat into the Deep Water Harbour and clear customs the following morning, he said.
The next morning, the captain left the boat to obtain clearance from the Customs and Immigration office. When he returned, they moored the vessel in the Shallow Draught, the witness continued.
Herbert said he packed his bag and left the boat. Later that day, Rogers contacted him and asked him to return at the Coast Guard’s request.
He said: “When I returned, the boat was full of Coast Guard people and police. After a brief time, the Coast Guard officer asked me to come down into the cabin, where he showed me a number of bags which he asked me if I knew anything about them or if I’ve ever seen them before. They had objects in them. I really didn’t know what they were and I did not recognise them.”
They waited on deck while police photographed the items, then arrested them and took them to Oistins Police Station, he said. Police then took him to his home, which they searched. Nothing was found, he said, adding that all three men were subjected to a financial inquiry.
Herbert said all three of them were charged, taken to court and released on bail.
He continued: “We went back to court at least four times, and things were adjourned. And before one hearing, I received a letter from the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions] saying that they were discontinuing charges against me because there was insufficient evidence.”
The witness said he left the boat only to use bathrooms in the boatyards during the trip from Grenada. Neither he nor anyone else had put anything aboard, he said.
During cross-examination by Harris, Herbert said he had been sailing aboard the vessel since his teenage years, mostly in Barbadian waters. But he did not claim to have intimate knowledge of every part of the boat.
Herbert said he was chairman of the Goddard Group’s board in 2018 and had stepped down for a period, returned to the position, and eventually retired in January of this year.
He said his return to the chairmanship was triggered by the letter from the DPP’s office.
The witness denied that, as chairman, he had hiring and firing authority throughout the conglomerate, saying the board was responsible only for hiring and firing the company’s chief executive officer.
He added: “The board has lots of authority but that is around governance and policy and not around management decisions.There is a lot of authority and a lot of responsibility, but it is not operational authority or operational management.”
Harris said: “I am suggesting to you that you together with Mr Rogers promised Mr Prescod that he would be able to maintain his job at Goddards had he confessed to having possession of the items that were found on board.”
“I absolutely deny that,” Herbert said.
The trial continues on Wednesday.
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