Two London-based Jamaican women were remanded to prison when they appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court for allegedly attempting to export a quantity of cocaine at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri.
- Sophie Maria Hendricks
And a Guyanese woman was also remanded to prison for allegedly handling the cocaine in this matter by stitching it into the wigs of the two women.
The three, who were all charged separately, appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton.
London-based Jamaican Sophie Maria Hendricks first pleaded guilty with explanation to trafficking in one kilogramme, 11 grammes of cocaine at the CJIA on February 15.
Adrian Thompson, Hendricks’s attorney, told the court that he had advised his client to plead not guilty after she had told him that she had struck a plea bargain with the Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) agents that if she pleaded guilty she would be given a three-month jail term.
However, Special Prosecutor Oswald Massiah said he did not know what Thompson was alluding to.
Massiah, reading the facts to the court, stated that having visited Guyana on February 7, Hendricks stayed at the Aracari Resort, West Bank Demerara, and on the day of her return to England while at the CJIA she was seen acting in a nervous manner.
This, Massiah went on, attracted the attention of a CANU officer on duty who approached Hendricks and identified herself before inviting the defendant to allow a search to be conducted on her person.
However, Massiah stated, before the search was conducted the defendant informed the CANU officer that she was carrying cocaine back to England in a hairpiece which was attached to her head.
Hendricks was subsequently arrested and cautioned. The hairpiece was removed and the cocaine was weighed and it amounted to 1 kilo, 11 grammes and was then tested and confirmed to be the prohibited substance, Massiah added.
Hendricks subsequently told the magistrate she did not agree with the facts as presented by the special CANU prosecutor and said, “I would like to change my plea.”
The charge was then re-read to her and she pleaded not guilty.
Massiah then asked for the matter to be transferred to the Providence Magistrate’s Court while Hendricks’s lawyer told the court that he would present a written submission concerning a plea bargain.
Hendricks is to return to the Providence Magistrate’s Court on February 26.
Meanwhile, the Guyanese woman, Nola Chapman called Liz, pleaded not guilty to the charge which stated that on February 15 at Aracari Resort she stitched one kilo, 11 grammes of cocaine into Hendricks’s wig.
Chapman was represented by Rushell Liverpool who in a failed bail application told the court that her client resided at 1665 Achievement Place and she was the mother and sole provider of two minor children. Massiah was the prosecutor in this matter as well.
Chapman is to return to the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrate’s Court on March 3 for report and fixture. The prosecutor stated that additional charges are to be laid against Chapman.
Meanwhile, Magistrate Octive-Hamilton also ordered that the other Jamaican-born woman who allegedly attempted to export a quantity of cocaine at the CJIA be remanded to prison. Veronica Victoria Pierce had entered a not guilty plea to the charge of trafficking in narcotics.
She denied that on February 15, at the CJIA she trafficked in narcotics by attempting to export 1.26 kilogrammes of cocaine.
She was also represented by Thompson who stated that this matter is associated with Hendricks’s matter.
However, Police Prosecutor Joel Ricknauth objected to the bail application and requested that Pierce be remanded to prison and the matter be transferred to the Providence Magistrate’s Court for February 26.
The prosecutor also stated that Pierce had come to Guyana on February 7 and was leaving to go back to England on February 15 when she was found with the narcotics.
Pierce, who wore a distressed expression as she stood outside the dock of the courtroom, stated “I’ve been used in this matter.”
Thompson then told the court that his client has breast cancer and was in great need of her medication since it had run out.
He requested that his client be seen by a doctor as soon as possible. He then presented a document to the court which he stated would corroborate this but after reviewing it the magistrate informed Thompson that his client’s last day for medication was some time in May last year.
Pierce then stated that “my body is becoming weak again because of me not getting my medications and that stress of this case against me.”
She said she needed chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
The magistrate then refused bail for Pierce and told her that a note was made on her warrant that she had a medical condition that needed treatment.
She was then escorted out of the court by a policeman.