A weekend at Westgate Correctional Facility was all Michael J. Richardson needed to realise a drugs trial in Supreme Court was not in his best interests. The 31-year-old Somerset Road, Sandys, man appeared in Magistrates? Court last week and surprised onlookers when he demanded to have his trial heard in Supreme Court. Several people, including Westgate prisoners, tried to persuade him to change his mind.

Unable to afford the $3,000 bail, Richardson looked surprised when he was escorted from the courtroom and taken to prison to await trial.

He returned to court yesterday and told Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner he had changed his mind.

?So you were wasting the court?s time the other day,? Mr. Warner said.

?I don?t have a lawyer, I don?t understand your system,? Richardson replied. ?All these people were approaching me telling me things and I didn?t know what to do.?

Mr. Warner said that claim was ?foolish?, but asked Richardson where he would like to be tried. It was then discovered that Richardson had tied up two days of court time over possession of a 0.9 gram twist of cannabis. He pleaded guilty and was fined $800.