A crying drug dealer facing jail was given one last chance to prove himself after a terrible tragedy. Jayden Bernard pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to supply and possessing cannabis.
The charges were brought after he was stopped by police in a vehicle with a large cracked windscreen, Nottingham Crown Court heard on Monday, July 11. The vehicle smelt of cannabis and cannabis paraphernalia was in the front console.
A single deal of cannabis was found in a man bag strapped over his shoulder and a small package of cocaine rocks had been hidden between his buttocks on March 1 this year. More than £500 was found at his home and has now been confiscated by the court.
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Messages on phones showed involvement in the supply of cocaine. Aged 22 and from Woodyard Lane, Wollaton, Bernard has seven previous convictions for drugs offences, including two for posessing Class A with intent to supply, and he had served 32 months in youth custody.
Matthew Smith, mitigating, addressed Judge Stuart Rafferty QC on the length of the sentence the judge was likely to impose - but then referred to his client's sad background. Bernard lost his mother in tragic circumstances as a teenager and has ongoing depression and anxiety.
He decided to deal drugs to make an income to pay for his own cannabis use. Bernard began crying as the judge spoke about his terrible past.
"You are harbouring under a cruel difficulty and have been for the last five years which should be a matter of public record to explain what that was," said the judge. Bernard, a child of a single parent family, had the misfortune to find his own mother dead, added the judge, and he had to cope with that.
"I am entirely satisfied that that awful discovery has made you mentally ill in the sense that I have no doubt you are suffering from PTSD". He said that had destabilized and depressed the defendant and continued to haunt him.
Giving him one last chance, the judge imposed two years in prison, suspended for two years, for the possessing of cocaine with intent to supply offence and no separate penalty for the cannabis offence.
"Go away and do not let me see you again," said Judge Rafferty. "When you get home, say a silent prayer to your mum, say sorry to her as well and make it your business not to let her down again and not to let these good people (referring to his family in court) down either".
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