Caribbean360: Cricketers bailed, one kicked off elite programme

Cricketers bailed, one kicked off elite programme
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Chris Hoyos on 16/03/2011 12:05:00
 
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Wednesday March 16, 2011 – Nevisian-born cricketers
Runako Morton and Tonito Willet were yesterday released from police custody, a
day after being granted bail on a marijuana possession charge.
Morton, who plays for Trinidad and Tobago, and Morton, a batsman on the Leeward
Islands side, both of who were arrested last weekend, had been granted the
TT$100,000 (US$15,673) bail, with an alternative of T$20,000 (US$3,134) in cash,
when they appeared in court on Monday. However, they spent that night behind
bars until bail was posted yesterday.
They return to court tomorrow.
Morton and Willet had only participated in the first day of the West Indies
Cricket Board’s Regional Four Day Tournament Round Five match between Trinidad
and Tobago and the Leeward Islands, which began last Friday and ended on Monday,
before they were held by police, allegedly with drugs in a car they were
travelling in with two other women.
Officers on mobile patrol stopped and searched the vehicle driven by Morton
around 1:30 am on Saturday and found 470 grammes of marijuana, estimated to be
worth at least TT$6,000 (US$940) in a plastic bag in the centre console between
the driver and passenger seats.
Morton had broken team curfew since he was supposed to have been back at the
Cascadia Hotel, where his teammates were staying, by 11:30 pm.
And Trinidad and Tobago’s Sports Minister Anil Roberts has announced it was
that curfew violation, and not the drug charge, that has resulted in Morton
being kicked off the twin-island republic’s Elite Athletes Assistance
Programme which provides financial assistance to outstanding athletes, in
support of their preparation for and participation in international competition.
“Mr. Morton broke curfew and the rules of the Trinidad and Tobago cricketing
national team. This fact, and this fact alone, is sufficient to remove him from
the Elite Funding Programme,” he said. “Any athlete, no matter how great
they are, representing Trinidad and Tobago and receiving from the government
operating in an ill-discipline manner will be removed.”
There has been no word on whether Willet will face any disciplinary action.
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