Rasta Says 20 Kilos Of Cannabis Was For Bathtime And Brekkie

A cannabis smuggler, caught with 20 kilos of the drug worth £58,000, has been jailed for two years and three months after a court rejected his claim it was for medicinal and religious use.

Mechanic Aldwin Renardo Gooden, 44, of Gilbert Grove, Huddersfield was caught at Gatwick Airport after stepping off a flight from Kingston, Jamaica.

He pleaded guilty at Croydon Crown Court to importing two packages of herbal cannabis on October 4, last year, but insisted it was not a commercial operation.

Gooden (pictured) 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.

“I don't take tablets for the pain because they are drugs,” he added, estimating his daily smoking habit at six ounces of cannabis.

Rejecting Gooden's argument Recorder Peter Susman QC 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 it's 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?”

The court also heard Gooden was convicted of growing cannabis in 2005.

“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.

“I have no reason to doubt the defendant is a fine man in every other respect.”