The Court of Appeal has ruled that a Jamaican man who fled to the island in 1986 after pleading guilty to drug-related charges in the United States must be extradited.

He is Louis Timoll, 59, fisherman and community leader, of Old Harbour Bay, St. Catherine.

Timoll's attorneys, Earl Witter and Barrington Frankson, had argued that it was oppressive and unfair for the U.S. Government to seek to extradite Timoll after he had been living here for so many years. They argued that Timoll was living an open life in Jamaica and was not hiding.

Deputy Solicitor General Patrick Foster, attorney-at-law Kevin Powell from the Attorney-General's Department, and Donald Bryan, deputy director of public prosecutions, submitted that, when Timoll fled to Jamaica in 1986, he was evading the authorities and was only seen by the police in 2001.

Fled to Jamaica

Timoll had pleaded guilty in 1986 to charges of conspiracy to import marijuana with intent to possess and distribute. He was on bail, but on the day he was to be sentenced, he fled to Jamaica. The U.S. Government issued a request for his extradition in March 2003 and he was arrested in November 2003.

An order was made for his extradition in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court in June 2004.

The Court of Appeal comprising Justice Howard Cooke, Justice Karl Harrison and Justice Hazel Harris ruled that it would not be unjust or oppressive to extradite Timoll to face sentencing.

The court held that Timoll had pleaded guilty to breaching the criminal law in the U.S. and had evaded justice. The court found that Timoll's behaviour was the foundation of his present predicament.

-B. G.