Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton yesterday sentenced a Surinamese drug mule to four years imprisonment and ordered that he also pay a fine, when he appeared before her at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
The 22-year-old father of four, Joel Ofwintu, pleaded guilty to the charge of trafficking in narcotics. He was found with 795 grammes of cocaine in his possession for the purpose of trafficking at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri on April 5.
Ofwintu’s lawyer, Patrice Henry pleaded: “My client did it because his grandmother was sick” and he needed the money to take care of her.
The magistrate then told Ofwintu “don’t you know the words bank loan or borrow or relatives?” She asked him why he had not used one of those options instead of transporting narcotics. She told him that he should have taken into consideration the fact that he had four children before committing the crime.
Henry urged that the court take into consideration that his client had admitted to the charge and in so doing he had not wasted the court’s time.
He then asked that the court display “justice and mercy” towards his client’s sentencing since his client was still young, has his whole future ahead of him and is a father of four, with the eldest being three years old.
He also asked that the court impose on his client the minimum sentence for a crime of this nature.
However, Police Prosecutor Robert Clement said that Ofwintu had been sentenced to prison for another matter in Suriname and that at present he was wanted for an “alleged murder of a goldsmith”.
The magistrate subsequently ordered that Ofwintu pay a fine of $715,500 as well as sentenced him to four years’ imprisonment. She also ordered that he be deported to Suriname after he has completed his sentence here.
