Teen chef admits intending to supply ecstasy pills and powder

Saturday 30 October 2021

A 19-year-old trainee chef has admitted intending to supply seven ecstasy pills and more than 30g of MDMA powder.

Joshua James Cauvain pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to supply in the Royal Court on Friday.

The first count referred to MDMA powder and the second to the tablets, both found on 9 December last year, when Cauvain was 18 years old.

Both are categorised as Class A drugs.

Following the entering of guilty pleas, a sentencing date was set before the Superior Number of 8 December.

Crown Advocate Richard Pedley argued that Cauvain should be remanded in custody till that date

This was because it was the Court’s policy that defendants who enter a guilty plea, whose sentence is likely to involve a custodial sentence, should be remanded in prison, save in exceptional circumstances. 

Defence Advocate Adam Harrison, however, argued that Cauvain’s eventual sentence may not involve custody, as he was only 18 when his crimes were committed, and he was only looking after the drugs for a short period for someone else.

“His involvement was minuscule,” said the lawyer, adding that Cauvain, a trainee chef, had turned his life around since being caught last December, when the police went to his home for an unrelated matter and discovered some drugs in his wallet.

Opposing the bail application, Advocate Pedley argued that Cauvain knew that the person he was minding the drugs for was a dealer. 

That dealer knew he was being watched by the authorities and gave the drugs to avoid detection in return for a small payment of £200, he said.

Lieutenant-Bailiff Anthony Olsen, who was sitting with Jurats Charles Blampied and Robert Christensen, said that it was a “finely balanced decision” but the Court was granting conditional bail.

However, he stressed that the presumption that defendants facing serious offences should be remanded in custody upon a guilty plea remained in force.