A Pembroke man was ordered to spend four and a half months in jail yesterday after being convicted of possessing cocaine valued at $3,500.

Raymond Troy "Yankee" Rawlins, 47, was found with 11.76 grams of freebase cocaine in his pocket on March 12, 2008, after Police stopped him for a traffic violation in Southampton.

He told Magistrates' Court it as for his own personal use and denied the drugs were for sale and distribution.

Magistrate Juan Wolffe heard evidence that a serious cocaine addict could smoke more than 11 grams of the drug in day and a half. While a moderate addict could smoke it over a three to seven day period.

He ruled that Rawlins, of Court Street, was not guilty to the charge of possession with intent to supply, but guilty of possession.

Mr. Wolffe said: "My opinion is this offence is a serious one. While it is a simple possession, considering the type of drug, I place it on the high end of the scale."

He handed Rawlins a three month jail term and increased that by 50 percent to four and a half months considering the street value, type of drug and the destructive effects cocaine has on the community.

According to Rawlins, he had tried to keep on the straight and narrow and stayed clean of drugs for more than ten years, but was always labelled by his past mistakes, including convictions for drugs and dishonesty stemming back to 1982.

He said: "All the years of tidying up I did it on my own. I never had rehabilitation, I never had a chance to rehabilitate in the long-term. I just made a fatal mistake."

He added: "I have eight children. I'm just trying to be there for my youth and get my act together for my youths. I just had a slip up. I'm not trying to make excuses, I'm just trying to let you know what I have been through.

"(This) has hurt my life, my whole family has been exploited. I don't even have a bank account. I'm just down to the ground, trying to make a way up."

Earlier in the trial the court heard Rawlins experienced personal hardships with the loss of his first granddaughter due to medical issues and was unable to get a visa to go to the United States to visit his daughter and grandchild in New Jersey.

These challenges led him to relapse with drugs.

His lawyer Charles Richardson argued for a fine, suspended sentence or probation term considering his client did not present a danger to society.

Mr. Richardson also said his client should have time to get proper treatment for his drug addiction. "Let's give him a chance to prove he is who he says he is, a person who has relapsed," he said.

Crown Counsel Cindy Clarke said a fine or anything less than a prison term would be "manifestly inadequate" and recommended a term between three and six months.