Alson Quashie, 58, seen here being taken away from the Magistrate’s Court on June 12, 2017, has been ordered deported by Governor Augustus J. U. Jaspert. Photo: VINO/File

Governor Augustus J. U. Jaspert made the Deportation Order against Mr Alson Quashie on June 26, 2019. Photo: VINO/File

Alson Quashie, 58, was arrested on June 9, 2017 after police executed a search warrant at his home in Carrot Bay, where they unearthed 78.3 grams of marijuana and 220 seedling plants.

He then reportedly took the officers on a good leg walk for about a mile and a half up a mountainous area to his farm where they found 220 seedlings.

On Friday December 14, 2018, Senior Magistrate Tamia N. Richards sentenced Mr Quashie to three-and-a-half years at Her Majesty’s Prison after he was found guilty of possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply to another.

He was handed three years imprisonment for the ‘intent to supply charge’ and another six months for possession 78.3 grams of cannabis. The sentences were to run concurrently.

Deportation ordered

According to the Official Gazette published June 27, 2019, Governor Augustus J. U. Jaspert ordered the deportation of Mr Quashie. The Deportation Order was made on June 26, 2019.

According to Governor Jaspert, sections 40(1)(b) of the Immigration and Passport Ordinance (Cap. 130) states that if at any time after a person, other than a person deemed to belong to the Territory, has landed in the Territory it shall come to the knowledge of the Governor that the person has been convicted of an offence against the said Ordinance, or of any other offence within the Territory punishable with imprisonment for three months or more, the Governor may make an Order requiring the person to leave the Territory within the time fixed by the Order and thereafter to remain out of the Territory.

WHEREAS it has come to my knowledge that ALSON QUASHIE is a person not deemed to belong to the Territory and that the said ALSON QUASHIE has been convicted of offences under the Drugs (Prevention of Misuse) (Cap. 178) which are punishable with imprisonment of three months or more; NOW THEREFORE, I, AUGUSTUS J. U. JASPERT, Governor of the Territory of the Virgin Islands, in exercise of the power conferred on me by sections 40(1)(b) and (c) of the Immigration and Passport Ordinance (Cap. 130) do hereby order the said ALSON QUASHIE to leave the Territory of the Virgin Islands on or before the expiration of seven days from the date on which a copy of this Order is served on him by an immigration officer or a police officer, and thereafter to remain out of the Territory;

“AND I do further order that the said ALSON QUASHIE be placed on board the first available ship or aircraft about to leave the Territory and that the said ALSON QUASHIE may be detained until he is placed on a ship or an aircraft, unless he appeals to the Governor in writing against the making of this Order before the expiration of the said period of seven days,” Governor Jaspert wrote in the Deportation Order.