One of the four Canadians charged with drug trafficking, last week pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years in prison while the other three were released on the advice of the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry before whom the quartet appeared at the Providence Magistrate Court confirmed yesterday that the charges against three of the accused were withdrawn and that this was based on the instructions of the DPP.
Crime Chief Seelall Persaud told Stabroek News that 61-year-old Jean Claude Gouthier pleaded guilty to trafficking in over four kilogrammes (kilos) of cocaine and was sentenced.
His co-accused Antonietta Saravella, 37; Oronella Saravella, 34 and Giovanni Calabrese, 34 were all released after the charges were withdrawn.
The four, all of Quebec, Canada, had appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton on May 15 and the matter was transferred to Providence for hearing on May 21. When the matter was called on May 21, Stabroek News understands, the prosecution asked for the file to be sent to the DPP for advice. When the file was returned Gouthier changed his plea and based on the advice of the DPP the charges against the other three were dropped.
When they first appeared in court Oronella Saravella and Calabrese were charged jointly. The case against them was that on May 6 at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri they had in their possession 3 kilos 181 grammes (g) of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. Antonietta Saravella and Gouthier were charged separately.
It was alleged that Antonietta Saravella and Gouthier had in their possession 1kilo 818g and 3 kilos 181g of cocaine, respectively for the purpose of trafficking.
When the charges were first read to the Canadian quartet, attorney-at-law Vic Puran had entered an appearance for them and had indicated that he intended employing the new plea bargaining legislation in the case.
The Saravella sisters, Calabrese and Gouthier had stood silently as the charges were read to them. Calabrese and Oronella Saravella held hands in the courtroom after the charge was read to them; they were heard uttering reassuring words to each other.
“Don’t worry,” Calabrese had told Oronella. “Things will be alright.”
According to an online report in Rue Frontenac, Oronella Saravella is a lawyer in Montreal. She and Calabrese, who was a client of the law firm she was employed at, started dating last year. Calabrese, Rue Frontenac said, was said to be no stranger to the law. Oronella Saravella had represented him for her firm in a domestic violence case and he has a criminal record for drug trafficking having served 90 days in prison.
Oronella Saravella had reportedly told her employers that she was going to The Bahamas for a week’s vacation and had later sent a message that she was unable to return because she had lost her passport.
