Drugs conviction 'ruins' national cricketer's career
By Elizabeth Roberts
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Talent: Chris Foggo holds the Safe Hands trophy awarded to him at Cup Match 2007.
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National cricketer Chris Foggo was chided for ruining his career by a Magistrate who fined him for cannabis possession.
A total of 22 grams of the drug were found at the star wicketkeeper and batsman's home during a Police raid last October.
His reaction was to tell the officers: "It's mine, it's weed. I'm ruined; I can't play cricket any more."
He pleaded guilty yesterday at Magistrates' Court to two counts of possession of an illegal drug and was fined $2,000.
Foggo asked Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner to consider his career when it came to sentencing him — since a conviction would mean he could be banned from entering other countries.
However, Mr. Warner chided him: "You should not be in any programme at all. I don't pick the team but that's what I think. You think it's OK to set an example to the youngsters that it's OK to play sport and smoke dope at the same time.
"You ruined your own career."
Outlining the case against Foggo, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Michael McColm said Police were called to his home in Sofar Close, St. David's, on the night of October 29, 2007 due to an unrelated matter.
They found two bags of cannabis in his pocket during a search. Admitting the drugs were his, Foggo rued the fact that his career was ruined.
The Police arrested him and took him to Southside Police Station. They returned the following afternoon and found more cannabis on the kitchen and bedroom floors and on a dresser in the bedroom.
Mr. McColm told the court the drug weighed just over the amount that could be considered "traffickable" but the Crown opted to charge Foggo on the basis of possession rather than possession with intent to supply.
Mr. Warner said it was a substantial amount of drugs and the defendant should consider himself lucky not to face the more serious charge.
Foggo told the Magistrate: "It's for my personal use. I'm asking for a little leniency for my situation I'm in. I play national squad cricket, it's my job, I fly out of the country on a regular basis."
However, Mr. Warner retorted: "So what? You think because you play for the country you can be in possession of this type of drugs?"
He also commented: "I view that as an aggravating factor. You get paid for playing cricket, you're supposed to act in a certain way. To those to whom much is given, much is expected."
Foggo, whose home club is St. David's, was a member of the Bermuda team that qualified in 2005 for the 2007 World Cup. He did not play in the World Cup squad having been dropped from the national side later in 2005. He was re-selected this year.
He told the Magistrate: "I have to pass a certain number of drug tests every year. I've just got back into the programme and I'm trying to straighten out my life."
Nonetheless, Mr. Warner criticised him for not setting a better example — making apparent reference to the murder of 18-year-old Kellon Hill at the weekend.
"Let me tell you what I think of this. We're having problems (with young men) all around this country.
"We're asking them to get involved in sport. We're asking people like you to be role models so we can get away from things that happened the other night. We're asking you to set an example... what do you expect the youngsters to think? You can play cricket and be in possession of this drug? They must think it's alright," he observed.
Foggo protested that the crime was committed a long time ago and that he is doing his best to do well in the national cricket programme, telling Mr. Warner: "I've totally changed my life around since the incident."
The Magistrate warned that he was considering making an example of him by sending him to prison. He also dismissed the idea of letting him off of a criminal record by handing him an absolute or conditional discharge, saying it would not be in the public interest to do so.
He eventually opted to record a conviction and fine Foggo, with three months in prison if he fails to pay, telling him: "I don't know, you young men seem bent on ruining every opportunity you're given in life."
Although Mr. McColm told the Magistrate that Foggo did not have any similar previous convictions, it is not the first time he has been in trouble. He was found guilty after a Magistrates' Court trial of obstructing Police searching for drugs in September 2005.
He was handed a one-year conditional discharge by Mr. Warner on that occasion, after the court heard that he was seen hiding something in his hand and then throwing it into a bush when Police carried out a property check in the grounds of St. David's cricket club.
