FORMER national footballer Nigel Pierre made an appearance before a Port of Spain magistrate on Monday, charged with being in possession of just over half a kilogramme of marijuana.
Pierre, 35, who lives at Jeffers Lane, St James, appeared before Magistrate Adrian Darmanie in the Tenth Court after being arrested at his home by officers of the Western Division Task Force on Saturday afternoon, when the drug was allegedly found in his possession.
He was allegedly found with 548 grammes of marijuana and pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Upon his appearance, police prosecutor Sgt Karen Arthur said the prosecution was not objecting to bail given that Pierre had a clean criminal record.
His attorney also told the court that his client had a clean criminal record and asked that Magistrate Darmanie endorse the bail bond that was granted to Pierre at St James Police Station following his arrest.
Darmanie granted the request, after which the matter was adjourned to June 24.
Since his career as a footballer began in 1999, Pierre played for the national team as well as several local clubs, including Joe Public, San Juan Jabloteh and United Petrotrin.
Internationally, he has trained with West Ham United and Northampton Town in the United Kingdom. The latter club attempted to sign him in 2003 but Pierre was unsuccessful in procuring a work permit because he had only played in 71 per cent of this country's international matches in two years, four per cent less than the required 75 per cent.